Our Programmes
For more than two decades, we’ve helped thousands of women and children pave the way for a better future for themselves, each other and their communities. Get inspired by our programmes.
Our Programmes
For more than two decades, we’ve helped thousands of women and children pave the way for a better future for themselves, each other and their communities. Get inspired by our programmes.
Community Mothers
The Community Mother programme was initiated by the inspirational founders of Orange Babies, Baba Sylla and John Kattenberg. Yabonga aligns in their purpose to support vulnerable children and youth who have been affected by HIV and AIDS, and we are very grateful to the ongoing support of Orange Babies for our Community Mothers programme.
Children’s Centre
Opened in 2019 in collaboration with the City of Cape Town, the Yabonga Children’s Centre is an oasis in Makhaza, Khayelitsha. The facility includes a kitchen and dining area to serve 200 children every day. There is also a gym, soccer playfield, netball court, music rooms, study rooms, computer rooms, training and counselling rooms. The younger children have exclusive play areas with a climbing wall and jungle gym area. The centre is also home to the Respite Unit.
Respite ProgramME
For those who are at risk of abuse or neglect, the Respite Programme offers temporary residential care to extremely vulnerable children. Over a period of six weeks, the Respite Unit focuses on stabilising the child’s education and health, offering intensive psychosocial care, while the Yabonga team assesses the child’s specific issues and implements an individualised care plan. The Yabonga counsellors will offer support to the families to improve the circumstances to which the children have to return. After the respite period and household assessment, the children are reunited with their families, and ongoing support is provided to both the child and the family.
HIV/AIDS Education
Yabonga retains strong links with local community clinics. Here, members of the Yabonga team hold presentations on living with and the prevention of HIV. The team visits local schools where they offer talks during Life Orientation classes to youths in Grade 6 and 7 where sexual activity has often already been initiated. Sexual reproduction and sexually transmitted diseases are regular discussion points that often lead to sensitive topics including sexual abuse and rape.
Girls and Boys Mentorship
These exclusive programmes for boys and girls aged 13 to 16 are designed to educate and meet the challenges of growing up in a society ravaged by gender-based violence. The mentorship discusses topics such as substance abuse, prevention of HIV, STI’s, teenage pregnancy, coping with peer pressure, gender roles, cultural norms, and dealing with grief and loss.
Mentorship Programme
As the first group of Yabonga students finished Grade 12, they found themselves unemployed and unable to enter into tertiary studies. In 2011, Yabonga introduced the Mentorship Programme, a 10-month long ‘bridging year’ with three focus areas: academic support to prepare for tertiary studies, leadership and skills development, and work experience. In 2022, the GAP Programme was renamed the Mentorship Programme.
Camp Program
The most recent programme, the Camp Programme, launched in March 2019. Yabonga was able to take a community mother and her 20 children for a weekend camping retreat in Wellington. Since then, 30 groups have enjoyed the Camp Programme.
Get Involved
With your help, we can keep expanding our programmes, educating more women, feeding more children and continuing to educate and break the stigma of HIV/AIDS. Your contribution will make a difference in a child’s life, and could change the course of their destiny.
Get Involved
With your help, we can keep expanding our programmes, educating more women, feeding more children and continuing to educate and break the stigma of HIV/AIDS. Your contribution will make a difference in a child’s life, and could change the course of their destiny.
