Thanks to your generous support, the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children’s  doors have remained open to serve women and children who are survivors of domestic abuse.

We are delighted by the response. Although there is always a need for funding to ensure that we are able to continue our much-needed work with survivors of domestic violence, the overwhelming response from the people of Cape Town has ensured that we have overcome our immediate funding crisis.

A total of R1,1-million has been secured from the Department of Social Development and a funding agreement has been signed.

It has been most heartening to see the varied responses from the public. Support came literally in all shapes and sizes! Over a weekend, we had three little boys come to the Centre. They could barely see over the counter-top, but each one handed over an envelope containing their savings. With the help of their parents, they were able to contribute an amount of R1 350.00.

An 88-year-old woman gave a donation of R100 and committed to a monthly debit order in support of SBC. The Centre also received goods in kind, ranging from food to clothing. Some donors chose to remain anonymous, making it impossible to thank them directly.

Supporters of the Centre have ongoing plans in terms of fundraising and we are excited to see where these initiatives will take us. With the exceptional media coverage that we received, we have been able to reach a whole new group of friends and donors, who have been able to raise enough funding to avert a crisis. This has put us in the fortunate position of being able to look to the future in terms of fundraising planning.

Thus far, an amount of R379 670 has been raised through this effort. If you would like to support the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children, contact them on (021) 633 5287.

Thank you!

The Director and staff of the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children

AMAZING COMMUNITY RESPONSE

There has been an overwhelming response from the public to the media reports of the Saartjie Baartman Centre funding crisis. People have been phoning and emailing, wanting to know what they can do to assist us. Their generosity - your generosity - has been incredible, and donations, whether monetary or in kind, keep on arriving.

A pensioner came to the Centre with a R1000 donation. Another pensioner phoned and said her marriage had been an abusive one, and if there had been a Saartjie Baartman Centre then, she would have had a different life. She would be making a monthly contribution to the Centre, even if it meant she would eat less.

Nancy Richards, SAfm presenter and freelance journalist, is raising funds by walking with a friend along the Camino de Santiago in Spain. She started on 21 May and has asked that if anyone would like to donate to her campaign, Walking for Women, they can type her name into the search box on www.backabuddy.co.za

Another very enterprising fundraising venture has been started by two sisters, Marelise and Amelia van der Merwe. They aim to raise R100 000 in 10 days to keep the Centre open, by encouraging 20 people a day to each donate R500. To read more about their campaign, visit http://100-grand-in-ten-days.blogspot.com

Press release

The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children in Manenberg, Cape Town has a local and international reputation as one of the finest one-stop centres to provide free shelter, legal and counselling services, job-training programmes and other resources to abused women and their children. As one of the shelter residents says, “The Centre is for abused women. But it shouldn’t be called “for abused women”! This is the only place where there is never any abuse against women – it’s against abused women!” She was laughing as she explained this, despite the fact that she lost a pregnancy three days ago because her husband kicked her in the stomach. The Centre has for the past 13 years been a vital part of Cape Town’s response to the issue of violence against women, in their homes and elsewhere. In 2011 alone, over 4000 women and children drew upon their services for safety, housing, legal and medical support, job-training and overall support.

In May, 2012, the Centre is facing imminent closure due to a lack of funding. Like other NGOs, the Centre has been resourced through a network of government support, international donors, and local individual and corporate donors. And like other NGOs, in the current climate of economic challenge and in-province political complexities, the Centre’s fundraising efforts have become more and more difficult. But the Saartjie Baartman Centre belongs to Cape Town, and general explanations for its struggles are not good enough. After 13 years of service to thousands of abused women and children, the Centre’s May birthday celebrations hang in the balance as more than 18 women and children get turned away from the emergency shelter per day. The Centre has already been forced to close their Worcester shelter, Eerste Begin, because the Cape Winelands Municipality withdrew their support from the project.

The imminent closure of the Centre, which needs an annual R4-million in operational costs to ensure its doors remain open, flies in the face of the national 2012 budget, which promised support and development of women and children through the continuation of education, health and social assistance as the largest categories of expenditure. “Going public with our plight is our last hope as a final appeal to keep the centre open and functioning in 2012,” says Synnov Skorge, Director of the Centre. “Empty promises on from political parties and government, a dysfunctional justice system and lack of resources, creates a harsh everyday reality,” she said. “If we do not bring in the money required, women will be left homeless and vulnerable, they will simply have nowhere to go.”

“Domestic violence and child abuse is on the increase in the Western Cape and the rest of the country,” Skorge said. More than 56 000 rapes were reported to police in 2010 / 2011, according to a police report. Research suggests however that only one in 25 rapes are reported annually, making the total number of sexual attacks far higher than the figures released in the report. “Increasing levels of violence in schools, families and the broader community and drug and alcohol abuse are fuelling an already volatile situation,” she said. Research done by the Medical Research Council last year on the vulnerability of women to violence reports that over 27% of the men interviewed said they had forced a woman to have sex with them. For some, “boredom” was their motivation.

South African is well known for the levels of violence within everyday lives. Men, of course, suffer from vulnerability to violence too (usually at the hands of other men), and in the end, it is not a numbers game. It is a question of what we mean by the just-celebrated Freedom Day, and what we meant 18 years ago when we rededicated the country to the possibility of new lives for us all.

Skorge explains more, “Government needs to come more fully to the party and assist with their commitment to fighting women and child violence. We invite Helen Zille, the Democratic Alliance and the ANC to put their money where their mouths are; it’s time for them to retake the opportunity to creating rights as realities.”

For more information on the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children and to assist with funding, visit: www.saartjiebaartmancentre.org.za or contact Synnov Skorge on 021 633 5287.

2009 was an important year in the history of the Saartjie Baartman Centre, as we celebrated our 10^th anniversary – 10 years of challenges, amazing growth and wonderful rewards.

“The 10 year existence of the Centre has been a story of courage, tenacity and the unrelenting conviction in our right to live free of abuse, to have choices and to create opportunities for ourselves,” said Synnøv Skorge, director of the SBC.

The SBC has grown tremendously over the 10 years: starting with one project – the shelter – and two onsite partners. By the end of 2009 SBC managed nine projects including two shelters and had nine on-site partner organisations. A reflection on the past 10 years can be read in the 2009 Annual Report.

To mark the 10-year anniversary celebration, the SBC hosted a black-tie event on 14 November 2009 at the BMW Auto Atlantic Foreshore Showroom.

Staff, shelter residents, partners and other honoured guests enjoyed an evening of good food and foot-tapping music – indeed, people didn’t stay seated for too long, royally entertained by the likes of Irit Noble and her divaliscious ladies, Peanut Butter Jazz and Coda.

The SBC would like to thank all the sponsors who contributed to the wonderful event – Auto Atlantic BMW Foreshore, the Foschini Group, Caledon Water, Anura Wines, Pick ‘n Pay, African Digital Printing, Regal Rentals, Lindt Chocolate, Customer Care Solutions and Samantha Pegg Photography.

Together with many other women's and human rights activists and organisations, the Saartjie Baartman Centre has added its name and support to a letter written to the press about the way 800m gold medal winner Caster Semenya has been treated by the athletics community and in the media:

10 February 2009
After more than a decade of democracy and a constitution that enshrines the rights of each human being in this country, can South Africa still afford leaders who cannot or will not accept every person’s fundamental right to equality, especially to equality of treatment and respect?

This is the question we have been asking ourselves at the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children over the last couple of weeks.