Pretoria - Caregivers at the Jakaranda children’s home weren’t deterred by having to take care of 250 children in the dark after having gone for days without electricity.
Facing a task that could dampen most people’s spirits, they saw it as a chance to band together with members of the community.
They organised a braai - and all were in good spirits.
The home, in East Lynne, had its electricity cut off on Friday afternoon by officials from the municipality after miscommunication regarding payment.
Jakaranda spokesman Christo Louw said the confusion was because they had continued paying their monthly electricity bill through the old system instead of the new smart metering.
“We had been paying, but the money was not reflecting as it was in the old account. Our entire centre spent the weekend without electricity, which made it difficult to care for the kids,” he said.
“Thankfully, after lodging a dispute with the city for the money paid to be transferred to the smart meter account we were switched back on. I think in all of this we survived through the graciousness of the community members who came out to stand by us,” said Louw.
Thankfully, he said, the electricity was back on at 5pm on Monday and operations had since returned to normal. Antsa Smuts, another official at the home, said community members put in more than their fair share.
“Some of the community members took the children to bath at their homes and even lent us generators to use. Others decided to take the children’s school uniforms to wash and iron them over the weekend,” she said.
Smuts said some of the house parents went as far as cooking whole meals of rice, vegetables and meat much to the children’s delight.
“The Faerie Glen Spar supermarket also chipped in and let us use their cold storage for our food, particularly the meat as we would have lost out on that,” she said.
Smuts said Jakaranda survives through faith, donations and kindness of the community to meet its monthly need of R1 million.
She said each of the houses had 12 children between the ages of 18 months and 18 years and required R7 000 for basics like food, toiletries, cleaning supplies and any other essentials.
House mother, Excellent Thukwane, who has been caring for children since the home was opened 26 years ago, said being with the children was like raising a big family.
“I love these children and I care for them like they are my own. “To many it might seem like a lot to handle, but… you have to keep reminding yourself that these kids have been through a lot and need a mother’s touch,” she said.
Pretoria News