Stellenbosch CFF opened

We are very happy to announce the opening for the Child-friendly facility at Stellenbosch FCS unit. This is the first facility outside of Cape Town in the Western Cape. This facility has state-of-the-art recording equipment and two-way mirror. The murals in this facility was designed together with the forensic social worker so that it can be used in the assessment of the child. Brig Mentoor and his staff made all the sponsors feel very welcome and Roman's Pizzas treated us to some great pizzas!
This facility was also made possible by the sponsorship of Romans Pizza.

We would also like to thank all our other sponsors:
Timber Trade
Builders Express
Witzenberg Poles

Paarl Hospital Child Friendly upgrade

Matla A Bana WC yesterday showed off the upgrades done at Paarl Hospital. Members of the FCS unit, sponsors and media attended the event. The children's waiting room was made child-friendly with murals and kiddies furniture. The medical examination room where rape victims are examined were also made victim friendly. Thank you to Roman's Pizza who made this project possible!

Old Mutual staff care and share!

Today 6 Old Mutual staff members volunteered their time to help abused children. This group is based at the Old Mutual Hammanskraal and took part in the Old Mutual Share and Care Volunteer program. The funding received from Old Mutual helped to purchase all the kids furniture and goodies needed to upgrade the Themba FCS unit to be child-friendly. Massmart also donated a fridge towards this unit to secure that DNA evidence is kept at the right temperatures.

Kids helping kids - Paarl & Stellenbosch facilties

On Saturday a group of 14 consisting of MAB supporters and students from the Lalela Project painted the murals of two child-friendly. These facilities assist child-victims of rape and abuse. The first facility is at the Stellenbosch Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences and the second is the waiting area at Paarl Hospital. Lalela Project is an art project working with children in the informal settlements of Houtbay and Kommetjie. It was a wonderful experience to see how young people are reaching out to help the younger kids in need.

Both these projects are sponsored by Roman's Pizza as part of the "Wipe that smile on your face". All were ecstatic when they were treated to pizza for lunch, courtesy Stellenbosch Roman's Pizza. 

Blankets from Old Mutual

Renee Palmer, respresentative of Old Mutual Foundation, brought some warm smiles to the faces of the FCS commanders who was in Cape Town for training. She donated more than 100 blankets to the commanders, who will in turn hand it out to child victims. Thanx Renee and Old Mutual Foundation for your continued support!

Renee enjoying the warm blankets!

 

 

FCS Commanders receive DNA Training

On Friday, 9 November, 24 WC FCS Commanders, representing all the FCS Units in the Western Cape, received training in DNA, the importance of it and legislation related to it. The training was opened by Brig Makura, who showed off his DNA skills!

We would like to thank Vanessa and Renate from the DNA Project for inspiring our officer to service excellence.

Brig Makurha and Vanessa Lynch

Our supporters honoured!

Last night Matla A Bana finally managed to pin down two of our top supporters of 2011 to hand over their Child Protection Certificates. Jos Malherbe cycled from Cairo to Cape Town to raise funds and TTV Fluval gave a very large financial gift to MAB in Dec 2011. This is a time when funding is normally at it's lowest and child abuse at the highest. Thanx guys for supporting us!

CHILD SERIAL RAPIST GETS LIFE

Lawrence Gagu, who used his position as a dance teacher to rape young girls, received three life sentences in Khayelitsha court yesterday. We are proud of the SAPS detectives and members of the state prosecution, who put this predator behind bars.

(In March this year, MAB opened a Child Friendly Facility at Khayelitsha FCS and in May MAB hosted a training course for FCS detectives on the Investigation of Serial rape cases.)

CERES FCS CHILD FRIENDLY ROOM

 Before...

 After...

Our two volunteers, WO Boer and Hennie Aggenbag, taking a break...

Yesterday MAB WC manager, Monique Strydom, and pensioner volunteer, Hennie Aggenbag took a long drive to the countryside, to work on the Ceres FCS child-friendly room. MAB was inspired by the group of FCS detectives and members who raised funds to enclose a veranda so that they could create a room where children can feel safe. With the sponsorship help received from Roman's Pizza, MAB could assist by securing the facility, decorating the room and purchasing some assessment tools for the social worker. We would like to thank Cluster Commander, Col Vos for the great welcome and a very special thank you to WO Boer, who took his last day of leave to assist with the work.

SAPS Press Release

CHARITY RIDE : POLICEMAN RIDES 1 900 KM ON A YAMAHA TO RAISE FUNDS FOR ABUSED CHILDREN

He may not be a knight in shining armour, but Lieutenant Colonel Paul van Eeden could be described as a ”knight on a shining motor bike”.

Van Eeden, 41 years of age, currently performs duties at Human Resource Development in Gauteng, but previously spent eight (8) years attached to the Krugersdorp Child Protection Unit in Gauteng. There, while spending all his time investigating cases of child abuse, he vowed that no matter where he was stationed, he would always be involved in helping abused children.

Paul, through his duties, became familiar with a charity called Matla a Bana, which provided the Krugersdorp Child Protection Unit with child friendly facilities for child victims and their parents.

Although his duties are now different, Paul is an avid motor bike enthusiast and he decided to combine his two passions – motor bikes and helping children - and ride through all nine provinces in less than 24 hours to raise funds for the Matla a Bana charity.

To prepare himself for the challenge, Lt Col Van Eeden spent every weekend riding his Yamaha Fazer distances of about 400 km at a time. In order to raise enough money to pay for the bike’s maintenance and fuel, Van Eeden and his wife Lizelle prepared meals and sold them either in the form of takeaways or sit-down meals at their home. They were enthusiastically supported by family, friends and neighbours.

On Saturday 20 October 2012 he set off from Gauteng at 03:00, drove through all nine South African Provinces and eventually stopped in Kimberley to sleep for five hours before heading back home. Through a motor bike club, there were people on standby throughout the country to assist him should he run into any type of mechanical or other trouble, but it was smooth running all the way.

Paul raised R25 000 for the charity and he says that he will let them decide on how the money will be spent because he has the utmost trust in them. Matla a Bana assisted in raising funds by creating a facebook page for the project and arranging for radio interviews.

Says Van Eeden: “I am very passionate about assisting children who have been victims of abuse as I have personally experienced their suffering whilst an investigating officer. I did this project in my private capacity and I am proud to say that I biked through all 9 provinces in 21.5 hours. I will definitely do it again, it is a privilege to do charity work for the children of our country”.

Congratulations to Lt Col Van Eeden, he is an inspiration to us all. Perhaps next time we can arrange for his SAPS colleagues to support him along the route!