A photograph of the Durban Children’s Home in January 1921. The building was built in 1918.
Durban - The picture of old Durban this week was spotted on the wall by our Photographer Shelley Kjonstad while doing another job at the Durban Child & Youth Care Centre.
It features the centre, formerly the Durban Children’s Home, at 222 Lena Ahrens (Manning) Road with the children in front of it in 1921. She persuaded the home to recreate the scene today.
The extensions to the original Durban Children’s Home are obvious in the pictures, and the old tree has been cut down, but otherwise the scene is remarkably similar, and the need for such welfare organisations as pressing today.
The home was set up in 1905 by a group of concerned citizens who understood that substitute care was needed for orphans, destitute children and those whose parents were unable to care for them.
Now known as the Durban Child and Youth Care Centre, it has evolved from providing custodial care to children, to new programmes established to meet the requirements of the national transformational welfare policy in South Africa and to provide services to the children, youth, families and the community.
The centre has 82 children in its homes and helps about 2000 children through its Isibindi Outreach project which focuses on children from child-headed households who are made vulnerable as a consequence of HIV/Aids in rural communities.
It is a non-profit organisation and provides care for orphans, destitute and neglected children, and those deemed by the Children’s Court to be at risk for children from all over KwaZulu-Natal. It’s main aim is family reunification, where this is possible.
We appeal to readers who have old pictures of Durban and other parts of the province to send them to us for consideration.
If readers are featured in the old picture, we will try to recreate the scene with them in it.
Digital pictures - preferably of about 1MB - can be emailed to satmail@inl.co.za
Hard copy images can be posted to the following address: The Editor, Old Pictures, The Independent on Saturday, PO Box 47549, Greyville, 4023.
The Independent on Saturday
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