What is a care point?
In Swaziland
orphans and vulnerable children can usually find housing on a rural homestead of a distant family member.
Homesteads are the way traditional Swazis used to live, and to this day
many rural Swazis still live on or have rights to a homestead.
Homesteads are usually brick and mud structures or huts or concrete
block buildings. A homestead can have as many as 5 or 6 units on the
property, and it is not uncommon for 15-20 children to be living on a
homestead.
Care Points
serve as gathering places for the children in a given community.
Each Care
Point varies in what it offers for the children, but basic reason for
existence is food. As long as there is food to be given out the
children will gather. The cooking and caregiving is usually done by Gogo’s (grandmothers). Some of the Care Points offer informal
education. Some of the Care points attempt agricultural projects, but
these are complicated by the fact that the majority of the locations
don’t have a water source nearby. A few of the Care Points have very
motivated “caregivers” who do their best to also provide social
interaction for the children in the form of games and songs. The
number of children serviced by each Care Point varies between 30-125. Children ages 2 and up will walk anything from 5 – 90 minutes to come to a care point and eat.
Here at AIM, we are involved with 14 care points, and are presently feeding 900 children daily. We’re excited to say that this number will grow to 1,600 next year!
Below is a video from Tom Davis, one of our partners through Children’s Hope Chest, explaining a care point…
I get saddnd each time I pass by a care point,becoz I blve every child deserves a very good quality of education from a grass root level,now a lot of work nidz to b done on these structures coz most of them don’t even have electricity, nd there ia not much activity happening there in terms of educational games ,nd extra mural activities,.the quality of food is alao another aspect that 1has to luk at most of these care points just serve the kids with beans nd Samp,its up to each community to come togethor nd work out solutions as to how each structure can b improved ,nd for the govt to give support where it’s required to
I get saddnd each time I pass by a care point,becoz I blve every child deserves a very good quality of education from a grass root level,now a lot of work nidz to b done on these structures coz most of them don’t even have electricity, nd there ia not much activity happening there in terms of educational games ,nd extra mural activities,.the quality of food is alao another aspect that 1has to luk at most of these care points just serve the kids with beans nd Samp,its up to each community to come togethor nd work out solutions as to how each structure can b improved ,nd for the govt to give support where it’s required to