Poverty in rural South Africa is still widespread and children born into poor families often suffer from many disadvantages such as poor health, poor diet, sub-standard housing, alcohol and drug abuse, inadequate parenting, lack of cognitive stimulation and domestic violence. The geographic isolation of rural areas exacerbates this and rural communities are faced with a lack of services, poorer education, fewer employment opportunities and higher transport costs which hamper finding employment elsewhere.

These hardships can have a permanent effect on children by inhibiting their development during their crucial early years. Without help their development may never recover and these children can end up trapped in the same destructive cycle of deprivation as their parents.

Experience has shown that to eradicate poverty we must apply constant, sustained effort, by working with the whole family and the community in a variety of ways..

We strongly believe that a holistic programme of connected projects that support children and families is the best way to go. That is why we are helping to build and maintain Rural Youth Centres, where children and families can learn and grow together.

The Solution

By building a centre in a rural community, Path Out of Poverty position themselves at the heart of the need and this enables them to provide services for children where they live and avoids transportation logistics and fuel costs.

The aim of these centres is to provide a safe place and vibrant environment for youth- focused, health and education programmes to take place. They operate as resource centres for rural communities and offer different activities.

Currently, there are 3 centres in the Swartland area of the Western Cape. These centres and their outreach programmes are utilised by thousands of rural children and the broader communities.

These centres each have a core team, all of whom have undergone extensive training in youth work and some of them have come up through the programmes themselves. Our kitchens are staffed by cooks from the local community who provide healthy, nourishing meals for the children that come to the centres.

These centres provide employment, training and career development for local people and are a second home for the children of poor communities - a place of sanctuary with creative and challenging activities to engage them. A Rural Youth Centre is a place to go to where homework and school projects can be completed away from the very cramped and noisy conditions so often found in poor rural homes.

It is Help the Rural Child’s commitment to providing sustained funding required year in and year out that enables the centres to remain open and serve the community. In trying to meet that challenge, we need your support.