Coming up on
Special Assignment this week:
Episode title: Over Her Head
Broadcast date: Thursday, 21 June 2012
Teaser ...
Haadia Williams (23) is a homeless orphan. She is unemployed and she is pregnant. She has no means of emotional or financial support, apart from that of the baby’s father, who is also homeless and unemployed.
As winter approaches they have resorted to squatting in a doorless garage which has neither electricity, running water, nor ablution facilities - hardly the ideal environment in which to raise a newborn baby. Haadia’s only other option is to raise her daughter on the streets of Cape Town - an option she refuses to even consider.
However, the odds are stacked against her. Between January and April 2012 over 2000 mothers and children were admitted to shelters in Cape Town alone. The NGOs providing sanctuary to destitute mothers and their children are chronically under-resourced and are facing a funding crisis due to shrinking donations from the corporate sector and limited government budgets.
Yet the Ministry established specifically to address the needs of Women and Children, namely the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities has overspent its 2011/12 budget by a whopping R22 million on travel, catering and staff.
Meanwhile, despite awareness drives such as Child Protection Week and Youth Day, children are more vulnerable than ever. Out of 19 million children in South Africa, 11 and a half million live in poverty. Earlier this year Child Welfare reported caseloads of over 2 600 abandoned babies.
Furthermore, the incidences of mothers murdering their children are also reportedly on the rise, not because they are inherently evil, but because they see no other way out.
Special Assignment accompanies Haadia Williams on her quest to provide a roof over her child’s head. Through her eyes, we confront the challenges of raising a healthy child in a society that prefers to avert its eyes from the plight of the destitute and the challenges facing our struggling NGO sector in trying to alleviate their plight.