A real home

Jabulani Children’s Village is structured in a way that makes sure children live in a family. A widow is employed as a “house mother” and is assisted by young ladies who are school levers as house Aunties. Each house has a mother, an Aunty and then children are added to that house. Each house has the capacity of twelve children, but we normally put ten kids in each house. Siblings are never separated but kept in the same home.

Jabulani Children’s Village endeavours to give the Children a real home where they live as a real family and they are taught different house chores. The children work together and help each other with house work just like any other family. Each person in a home has an allocation per month, which is then multiplied by the number of people in a house. The sum amount will be their family budget for that month. All house members sit together to make a budget of how they will spend their allocation for the month. The accounts department looks at the budgets and gives advice where it is necessary, and the local social worker always checks what they buy when they are back from shopping. This is in order to confirm that the money is enough as prices do change and also to help them follow their budgets.

Farming

Each house has a garden where they grow vegetables and a field where they grow maize. This helps them to supplement their budget and it also teaches the children practical skills. When the children visit their families and someday return for good, these skills will be very helpful and it will help them fit into society.