WHAT IS REACH OUT TO THE CHILD?

A brief history

In 2008, Stuart Hardingham visited Mseleni Children's Home (MCH) whilst on a house building visit with friends from another church. Stuart was so challenged that when he came back he approached our church Minister to find out if this was something we at Shoeburyness and Thorpe Bay Baptist Church would like to be involved in.

The Church decided to send Stuart & Diane Hardingham and Marion and Bill Cobham to Mseleni to see how, as a church, we could help. In September 2009, the 4 went and visited MCH. We met dozens of enchanting children - who nearly all wanted cuddling. We met MCH workers (aunties) and social workers. We went out into the community to discover how the people nearby lived and we visited local schools to see if we might be able to help there. But we were hooked on the children's home and the children therein. We discovered that Rachel Fredlund started MCH about 30 years previously and also created another charity called Lulisandla Kumntwana which cared for orphans and vulnerable children in the wider community, via a large network of churches and volunteers, covering an area the size of Essex and Suffolk combined.

We returned to our church in Shoeburyness very enthusiastic about the many ways that our church could help.

So we set up a UK charity called 'Reach out to the child S.A'; a similar name to Lulisandla Kumntwana, 'Hands reaching out to the child' in Zulu.

Shoeburyness and Thorpe Bay Baptist Church (STBBC) continues to fund and support Reach Out To The Child. Over 30 members have had the opportunity to join us with our work in South Africa.

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Mseleni Children's Home

We first visited the home (MCH) in 2009. There were about 45 children in MCH, mostly AIDS orphans but also other vulnerable or abused children.

MCH has been there about 30 years, started by Rachel Fredlund, on land next to Mseleni Hospital, which was run by Dr. Victor Fredlund.

MCH is a charity that runs the children's home. It is subsidised by the government on a per child basis but inadequately.

Rachel and Victor were SIM (Service in Mission) missionaries and have worked with the wider community for all that time.

Over the years we have really got to know many of the children and a lot of them are now in their 20's, but we are able to keep contact with them by phone and Facebook.

Lulisandla Kumntwana

In Zulu this title means "Hands reaching out to the Child" and is the reason we named our charity what we did.

LK employs Social workers and facilitators. They help to house, clothe and feed some poor people in the community, identified to them by a large number of volunteers and churches.

The Charity helps to trace birth/death certificates to enable people to access pensions, child benefits, schools, etc.

LK also run several 'After School Clubs' where orphans and vulnerable young people get help with school work and can receive counselling where necessary. The children also receive a meal and drink.

ROTTC fund the operation of 3 of these After School Clubs at 3 schools - Nhlamvu, Tshongwe and Ekuseni.

Once or twice a year, LK take over a school premises for a weekend - Friday lunchtime to Sunday afternoon - to run a Psyco Social Workshop. They invite all the orphans and vulnerable children in the area, often over 100. They provide food and counselling in the following areas -

Living with AIDS
Living with grief/bereavement
Sexual Health
Self esteem

When we are in South Africa, we fund the cost of this and participate.We start each session with Bible stories and singing and later on we see each group for time where we teach christian songs and craftwork.