Join us in restoring dignity and rebuilding futures đź’š TLC Outreach Projects is a registered non-profit organisation located in Table View, Cape Town, South Africa. TLC, founded in 1996, is a community based project with the goals of saving and changing children's lives every day. In this from now on monthly released blog, we want to give you an insight into our organisation and how we are working.
TLC deals every day with children that have been abused in various ways, physically, sexually, emotionally and that have lived on the streets of Cape Town, some of them even for years. These children have taken drugs and had to live on their own from a very young age. They had to fight their way through a difficult, hard and dangerous life, not worthy the one of a child. Our organisation is trying to help these children and make their lives better. We run several facilities for our care and preventive programs. To help even the youngest kids, TLC erected “Educare Centers”, located in the Table View Police station, that serve the purpose of caring for troubled children during the week and preparing them for school. These kids need love and care and sometimes even need to be fed after the weekend because they do not get food at home. By feeding and teaching them basic reading, writing and maths skills we try to give them the care and the education they deserve and that they do not receive at home. The rehabilitation programmes for children and youth that were addicted to drugs and have been living on the street take place at the Skills Development Centre in Parklands. From this centre we run a 11 month Skills Development programme. Although all of them have been drug addicts at some point, they are clean now and have to undergo drug tests on a weekly basis. With our education programme, TLC equips them with the following: reading and writing lessons, English literature, computer skills, life skills as well as we do counseling sessions to address their problems. They are not only receiving basic and advanced education but even more so are taught how to recover and rejoin society. This is done through intensive talks and personal counseling, with teaching them skills like discipline, self-control, communication and respect. TLC also cooperates with other organisations to assist these children using for example Horse-therapy sessions to address communication problems and overcome anxiety. We are so grateful and proud to say we have seen many lives changed through our programes. TLC is also taking care of seven informal settlements in the Cape Town area with more than 120 families living there. These families get fed by TLC and get help for repairing for example storm damage to their shanty homes. The children are provided with the Educare programmes several times a week to prepare them for school, additionally TLC organises youth and sport activities. Other programmes deal with health issues deriving from the bad living conditions, specially aimed at the mothers and their kids living in the settlements. Ultimately, the goal is to help these small communities reach self-sufficiency. Lastly, TLC runs a street ministry project, trying to get people off the streets or helping them with blankets and food on their struggle for survival against the cold weather and the rain during the winter season in Cape Town. None of this can be done without the continuous effort of the many volunteers and supporters that commit themselves with great effort to the programmes at the office, Skills Development Center and in the settlements. We attend various meetings with the police, schools, different community organisations and representatives from the City of Cape Town, making sure to combine our efforts to reach our goals and help the community.
