Help to Keep Thato KeMatla Orphanage Running

Thato Kematla is an orphanage outside of Johannesburg, South Africa that provides a home, safety, food and education for 35 children. In my early 20s I worked for an NGO that (at that time) supported the orphanage, providing stipends for the 5 workers, food and occasional renovations to the home.

This is how I met Disebo, a former nurse who quit her job to look after abandoned and abused children in the area. Disebo is an inspiration, taking on an incredibly important role in society that is so difficult to do, and required a huge sacrifice on her part so that the children could have a chance at life.

South Africa has a very difficult climate where there are a lot of people in need, and not enough people able to support them. Over the years we have been striving to become eligible for government grants. This meant we had to create more space for the children to live, fix any potential safety issues in the home, install solar panels for electricity and meet all sorts of requirements which we did over a few years. Every time we got close, there was another requirement, which along with limited funding, is why it took so long. All the while struggling for food, electricity and basic supplies. The local police know the orphanage well and it has often been their go-to when they discover a child in desperate need of a home. Due to the extreme need in the area, it did not matter that it was not an official orphanage, it was widely known as the best place for the children to live.

We ticked one box after another until finally, late in 2023 the home was approved as a registered child and youth care center and was approved by the Department of Social Development to look after the country's most vulnerable people. Children started being officially assigned to the home, mostly newborn babies, while they also had to hire enough social workers (18!) to look after them. The costs mounted, social workers haven't been paid and when the funding deadline came around in April and SLAs were signed, no money came in. We waited, we provided more documents, we jumped through more hoops only to hear the announcement that there were no funds, not even for some NGOs that had been receiving grants for years, the funding pool had shrunk further.

There has been a court order to mandate the Department of Social Development to follow through on the SLAs that had been signed, but while we continue to wait we need food, gas and electricity at a minimum to keep the home running, costing approximately R10,000.

There aren't many places left to turn and corporate funding is highly competitive. I have been donating monthly but I can't keep it running financially, while Disebo and the workers do everything to provide for the (currently 35) children and get them to school every day.

We won't give up until it is impossible so please help us to keep it running a bit longer while we figure out what to do next and keep applying through other avenues. Immediate donations will go towards food and gas and then we'll assign other priorities such as school uniforms, kitchen equipment and fixing existing infrastructure and appliances. It would also be amazing to have a small safety net, enough to buy food for the next month or two.

I'd be happy to share more details about the home or use of funds for anyone interested.

The video on the page was done by my former organization RADA, and features the orphanage and a nearby old-age home.

Here is an article that speaks about the ongoing issues: https://groundup.org.za/article/premier-intervenes-in-npo-funding-bungle-by-gauteng-social-development/