In some of the poorest communities in Cape Town and its surrounding townships, women would open their homes to children who had nowhere to go and no one to look after them. 

In 1998, Ulpha Robertson and Ursel Barnes began to offer training to these women so that they could introduce an educational component to the day while overseeing the children they were tending to. Once the women completed a basic course in educare, and showed an interest to implement the theory, Ulpha and Ursel assisted them with the infrastructure needed to qualify for state grants. 

Ulpha and Ursel were advised to start an orphanage for babies in Khayelitsha. Within just a few months, the orphanage was full with 16 abandoned babies. Perplexed by the matter, Ulpha and Ursel wanted to understand the circumstances under which these 16 babies had been abandoned. 

Their investigation led to meeting the mothers of the children, all of whom had handed their newborns over to social workers. Appointed by the state, these social workers were tasked to monitor the progress of the newborns as they formed part of a trial of the government’s Nevirapine programme for women testing HIV positive during pregnancy.

Without medical care offered to them, the mothers, whose deaths were imminent, felt that their babies would be better off at the orphanage. 

As mothers themselves, with knowledge of the development of young children, Ursel and Ulpha knew that despite the dire circumstances of these new mothers, it would be best for the babies if they were in the care of their mothers, rather than in an orphanage. And so, in 2000, with these 16 mothers, a programme of education, care and support for women living with HIV began. 

Back then there was no medical support for people living with HIV. Many lost their lives, and the unfortunate consequence of this was countless children left behind. In response to this, the Yabonga fieldworkers reported a need for a support programme for orphans. 

Ursel and Ulpha were hesitant to start this as they knew that unlike programmes for adults where they could stipulate a timeline, it would be impossible to do so with children. While they debated how best to address this challenge, the children of the women that had been lost to HIV/AIDS started arriving at the Yabonga HIV Support Centres which had been established at 12 community clinics.

A grandmother who had lost her daughter to HIV/AIDS and who had received support from Yabonga, visited the support centre to offer thanks and found children milling around. She offered to take them to her home for a cup of soup and a slice of bread. 

And so began the Yabonga Community Mothers program. With this program, a mother from the community cooks a warm meal for 20-25 children, five days a week. Now, Yabonga currently has 40 mothers and 1200 children in this program. 

From the Community Mother programme, several other programmes have emerged, including the Gap programme, Camp Programme, Respite programme, as well as the Girls and Boys Mentorship Programmes.

In 2018, Yabonga celebrated two decades of working in impoverished communities, forming partnerships with clinics, schools and other community-based structures. For more than 20 years, Yabonga Children’s Project, its staff and volunteers, have successfully helped the lives of countless mothers, children and community members impacted by poverty and HIV/AIDS.

We have trained over 1000 women living with HIV to be peer educators, lay counsellors and agents of change. We currently employ 110 of these women, while 80% of our staff are living with HIV and serve the communities where they live.