WALK TO FUNDRAISE FOR ANGELS CARE CRISIS CENTRE

Let's WALK TO FUNDRAISE FOR ANGELS CARE CRISIS CENTRE

Hosted by ACTIV8 PERFORMANCE, HOME SLICE CAFE AND THE OLD MUSHROOM FARM

Date: 7th MAY @ 7:30 - The Old Mushroom Farm, 11 Karkloof Road Howick.

Tickets = R20pp + Quicket fees.

R5 of all coffee purchased from Home Slice Cafe on the day will be donated to the cause.

SOCIALISED DOGS ALLOWED

More about Angles Care Crisis Centre

It is a sad fact that approximately 3800 women and children are sexually assaulted on a daily basis in South Africa, whilst only 0.4% of sexual offenders are held accountable for their actions. Results obtained from cases that are reported shows that most victims come from areas of extreme poverty such as the informal settlements around Howick and 60% of cases are children less than 12 years of age. A closer analysis of the Howick area and the governmental services available to assist such children indicate that the greater Howick area (Kwa-Zulu Natal) provides very little assistance from the Department of Social Development in the deployment of social workers to assist the numerous children who are victims of sexual abuse. In terms of the services supplied by the South African Police Services, they are exceptionally under resourced, the closest place that children can obtain proper medical assistance is at hospitals in Pietermaritzburg which are at least 60 kilometres away from their homes and schools. Consequently survivors often have to wait several hours at police stations and have to repeat their “story” to a number of different officers before being assisted, with some cases of abuse where officers even discourage the reporting of the incident. Only after the SAPS have opened a case will they then help with transport to a medical facility for the survivor to receive treatment and where forensic evidence will be collected. This prolonged and challenging process often leads to the survivor feeling like they have been through a form a “secondary assault” and they are left without hope and certainly without the assurance of on-going assistance.

As the Howick SAPS is situated directly across the road from Angels’ Care Centre, they have welcomed the building of a rape and abuse crisis Centre at Angels Care where there is a child friendly facility where their officers come and take statements from children and their caregivers and ensure cases are opened, medical examinations completed, vital DNA evidence collected and the cases followed up through the National Prosecuting Authority. The Centre has a permanently employed forensic nurse and social worker, and agreed on working protocols with the NPA, SAPS, Dept. of Social Development and other NGO’s and NPO’s. The Centre conducts a risk assessment to ensure the survivor’s safety, provide counselling services and access to a forensic nurse, as well as be a place where the survivors can meet with relevant members of the SAPS and NPA when necessary.

Centres, such as this, which can provide access to all the necessary social, medial and legal services, required to ensure the survivor not only receives care and assistance in one location and in a timely manner, are essential in South Africa. Through medical and physcho-social healing, such centres will restore dignity to survivors and provide a mechanism whereby a case can be followed through to the point where the perpetrator is more likely to be identified and ultimately convicted. We are hopeful that in the same way as the government has set up Thutuzela Centres in certain hospitals nationwide that provide a holistic service to victims of sexual abuse, the rape crisis centre at Angels Care Centre could be the first of many centres operated by South African non-profit organisations that have good working relationships with all the relevant governmental stakeholders. Such centres could not only monitor levels of abuse in more rural communities, but also ensure that vital forensic evidence is actually collected and used to ensure the identification and conviction of offenders, and bring about emotional healing to survivors. Most importantly, the centres will be a welcoming and safe place for women and children to come when they need help the most!