We help domestic violence victims and abandoned children by providing emergency accommodation and care.
Grace Help Centre has been in existence for over twenty years during which time we have grown to develop a child and youth care centre. Our primary focus is female victims of gender-based violence as well as child victims of violence and abandonment. Our beneficiaries are 95% black and emerge from previously disadvantaged backgrounds and are affected or infected by HIV/AIDS. We are open 24 hours a day in order to respond immediately by providing accommodation, nutritional meals, access to healthcare, de-briefing and counselling sessions. Victims are made aware of their rights as victims of crime and are provided with access to legal support. The vision of the organisation is to see victims of abuse empowered and rehabilitated into society as fully functional individuals able to participate and contribute. Our mission is to alleviate the suffering of individual children and women, and their children who have been sexually, physically and emotionally abused by providing direct counselling and sheltering.
Grace Help Centre is the only registered NPO and PBO in the North West province that provides a rehabilitation programme for human-trafficking victims, in partnership with the SAPS and other local stakeholders. Each victim has access to a qualified Social Worker on the premises to assist in developing a personalised care plan to determine their futures, that is, either returning home or starting an independent life.
The true extent of violence against women and children is difficult to measure, thus we endeavour to ensure that we provide information sharing through either social or print media as well as advocacy and outreach sessions in the community, to ensure that victims are made aware of their rights and to educate community members to be able to identify signs of abuse and who to turn to should they suspect abuse against a woman or child. According to Statistics South Africa, over 1,2 million women and children are raped each year, the sad reality is that only 1 in 20 rapes are reported.
Grace Help Centre is a short-term care centre where victims are cared for holistically, we provide a favourable environment in which they are able to thrive spiritually, emotionally and physically.