Sivenathi Special Care Home

Sivenathi Special Care Centre is a home for children with physical and mental disabilities. The centre is situated on the outskirts of a small rural town Golf Course “EMagaleni”, Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape.

Founded by Lorraine Joja & her husband Patrick Joja. The couple wholeheartedly opened their own home for children with special needs. Prior to this, Lorraine was a caregiver to a disabled child in Cape Town for five years. Sadly, the child has since passed away. After the child’s passing, Lorraine and her neighbour shared a vision of opening a centre which would cater for children with disabilities in the Eastern Cape. They shared this vision with key community stakeholders who assisted in turning her vision of the centre into a reality. Sivenathi Special Care Centre was then born in 2008 under the management care of Mr Sigqibo Mqalo.

Since its official opening, Sivenathi Special Care Centre has warmly welcomed 34 children, between the ages of 3 years - 24 years. However, due to dissimilar conditions, majority of the children wear small sizes with the oldest child wearing clothing for a 14 -15 year old.

With continuous support from the government, local businesses and other non-profit organisations, we have managed to build a home that provides 24-hour care, catering for children with special needs, HIV Aids-infected and abandoned orphans.

To date, we give our love and care to make sure that all their children grow like any other child by giving them access to educational skills and training to improve their lives. The main aim is to provide children with psychosocial counseling, special education programs, skill empowerment and a safe and caring environment.

Our GOAL is to acquire additional premises to accommodate our children and employ more staff. We thrive to compensate our staff for their endeavors to enhance the lives of our children as they too have families who are dependent on them. With few projects on hold due to lack of funds, we strive to effectively partake in fundraising activities. We aim to stimulate our children holistically (socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively) taking into account their physical and mental barriers.

Our MISSION is to provide a safe and caring environment for children with profound disabilities from all racial and religious groups in the Eastern Cape. We aim to conserve our children’s fundamental rights as demanded by us and their caregivers as outlined in the constitution of our country. Our main focus is to give a better hand that life has given children and adhere to their special needs to the best of our abilities. Furthermore, we try by all means to help them accept their differences by providing them with skills they require to cope with challenges they face on a daily basis.

At Sivenathi Special Care we have 24 hour care for children who are profoundly mentally and physically challenged. We provide programmes which allow our children to be fully integrated within the community.

We also provide full services which assist our children with basic human skills.

SPECIAL CARE PROGRAMMES INCLUDE: