Projects

Expanding and strengthening the role of youth in community activities

The Homestead: Projects for Street Children

Cape Town, South Africa
About a year ago Janel McTaggart contacted the Coalition for some help with a project she was developing.   While studying at Georgetown University, she spent a semester abroad at the University of Cape Town.   After teaching art and ESL (English as a Second Language) for two years, she was interested in returning to South Africa to work with street children.   She wanted to provide them with art workshops including drawing, painting, sculpting and photography as part of their rehabilitative process.   She was looking for a nonprofit organization in the U.S. to support her in this initiative and she approached the Coalition for assistance.

During a trip to South Africa in April, she discovered The Homestead: Projects for Street Children , in Cape Town, South Africa. The Homestead focuses on working with street children in Cape Town and the surrounding townships  Their mission is "to help street children reconstruct their shattered lives."   Currently there are seven projects being run under the auspices of The Homestead. They include a children's home, two intake shelters, a drop-in center, an outreach program (street work), a job creation program, a family reunification project and a prevention program. All of the programs are located either in Cape Town, or surrounding townships. Janel quickly decided that The Homestead was the ideal organization to work with and secured a volunteer position immediately. Starting in November, Janel, along with two other volunteers (an art therapy student and an occupational therapist), will be providing arts education to the street children who find solace in the shelter of The Homestead. She also hopes to use her ESL skills to provide literacy education to the children. Fund raising activities to support this project have generated $1,985 in contributions to date. These contributions have been earmarked for supporting Janel's work at The Homestead and the funds will be directly transferred to The Homestead - a licensed nonprofit organization in South Africa.   

For more information on The Homestead, you can visit www.homestead.org.za.   Janel McTaggart can be contacted at janelmct@aol.com if you have any questions.