Built to Last

Above: Judith and Axel Milberg

The three new buildings at Mants’ase Children’s Home, which will be officially opened on the 7th April have been built to last. Each of the buildings has been constructed to very high building standards and we believe they will be of great benefit to our children for many years to come.

Thank you so much to all those who contributed to their construction!

Thank you to Axel and Judith Milberg and the Umckaloabo Stiftung for the pivotal role they played in securing the necessary funding, and to RTL vir helfen kindern for generously sponsoring the cost of these new buildings.

Thank you to DNT Architects, Twentieth Construction and EFS Construction, and our heartfelt thanks to our Chairman, Mr Herman Nieuwoudt and our General Manager, Ms Fifi Mphako for overcoming what appeared to be impossible hurdles during the construction phase.

And thank you so much to all the staff and children at Mants’ase Children’s Home, you coped brilliantly with the unavoidable upheavals and inconveniences throughout the demolition and construction phases. We pray and trust that you will enjoy the benefits of these beautiful new buildings for many, many years.

The first building was designed with our children’s education needs in mind:

• There is a multi-purpose room to be used by the preschool in the mornings (when the primary school children are at school) and in the afternoons and evenings the primary school children will have this ideal space for doing their homework.

• There is a multi-purpose room for the secondary and high school children, an ideal space for them to do their homework, away from the little ones practicing their reading out loud!

• And there is a library for everyone to use, as well as new office accommodation for our Assistant Manager.

While meeting our children’s education needs will always be our primary focus when using this building, we will also be using it for extramural activities, skills training for our children and staff, counselling and play therapy, meetings and recreation - particularly on cold and rainy days. Winter days are going to feel so much warmer with the protection of large windows to keep out the cold wind while allowing the maximum amount of sunshine in.

We also plan to use this building at times to host workshops focusing particularly on health and safety education, and to which we can also invite our neighbouring communities.

The second building houses:

• Two new dormitories, each with their own bathroom. These dormitories were built for the older teenage children, aged between 16 and 18 years, one dormitory for the boys and one for the girls. These new dormitories have allowed proper housing of all the teenagers according to their developmental stage and have also enabled us to care for more children at Mants’ase Children’s Home.

• Two flats (apartments) for the accommodation of the General Manager and Assistant Manager.

The third building houses the General Manager’s Office, a laundry room and a well-equipped food store room.

We are enormously grateful for the funding provided to Mants’ase Children’s Home by RTL vir helfen kindern and gladly display their logo near the entrance to the library.

And again, thank you so much to all who played their part.

Thank you for our new buildings, we really appreciate!