More than 60 000 children live on the streets in South Africa, according to child rights organisation South African Missing and Exploited Children. International Day for Street Children, which took place on 12 April, aimed to give these children a voice. To raise awareness around the day, online volunteering platform forgood.co.za, connected with Jabulani Khakibos Kids, an organisation that houses and works with homeless children.
“Beyond just giving these children a voice, we need to listen to what they actually need. This is where forgood plays a crucial and meaningful role – our causes tell us exactly what they need and we link them to individuals and businesses that can help them out,” says CEO offorgood.co.za, Andy Hadfield. “In the giving space, we often make assumptions without asking first. Forgood resolves this by matching real needs to specific resources – creating on-the-ground impact.”
As South Africa’s largest volunteering platform, forgood connects individuals and corporates to reputable causes quickly and easily. They can choose to donate goods or volunteer their time and skills to a cause in need. The site has more than 1 000 different opportunities and 500 social causes for people to choose from nationwide.
In line with the needs expressed by Jabulani Khakibos Kids, forgood and some of their volunteers, prepared 80 packs made up of food items and stationery. These were delivered to the children’s home based in Berea, Johannesburg.
“Painting walls, planting gardens and collecting blankets is nice but is that what causes need? That’s why it’s worth coming to a platform like forgood – we resolve real needs created by the causes registered on our site. It’s moving away from a hand-out towards a hand-up,” says Hadfield.
The event, which was held at the forgood offices in Dunkeld, Johannesburg, encouraged all South Africans to get involved, not just on one day, but all year round. If you would like to help out but are not sure where to start, visit forgood.co.za. Businesses can get involved too. In addition to offering a public platform, forgood builds branded, customised employee volunteering platforms for use in corporate CSI and HR initiatives. Visit the International Day for Street Children Campaign here:
https://www.forgood.co.za/campaign/profile/international-day-for-street-children
