Children are precious gifts that add that extra sparkle and complete a family, they need to be protected, especially during times where they cannot protect themselves. They rely on their parents or guardians to keep them alive. Everything from walking, talking and becoming someone that adds value to our society is learnt from a responsible adult very early in life.

In South Africa we have so many children that are abandoned; left alone to fend for themselves. Where do these children go? How do they feed themselves and how do they learn to be someone that can grow up to be a parent themselves?

A parent is not someone who simply creates or gives birth to a child, they are the ones that should be there for a child that they have brought into the world, someone that that child can rely on and learn from. Unfortunately, more cases are reported every day of babies having been abandoned, simply cast into a rubbish bin.

How many children do we see standing at the robots asking passing motorists for money for food – something that they may not have had in their possession for days or even weeks at a time?

Not only this week, with Child Protection Week running its annual campaign from the 21 – 27 May, but every day we should take time to think “what if this was my child?” or “what if this was someone I knows child?”.

With our busy lifestyles, juggling between a 40 hour workweek and spending time with our own families, many of us think that there is nothing we could do; we simply do not have the time to step in an assist the thousands of children that would need assistance.

What about making it a family outing? Visit an orphanage and play with the children for a morning? Your children will learn so much from these children and grow up to have the insight to carry on the good deeds. Not to mention what the orphans would get from having someone show them acknowledgement.

ER24 has joined with the local community in Cosmo City, starting a “Hole in the Wall” project at a home for abandoned children. We are so proud to be part of something so special, a means for mothers who simply cannot take care of a new born baby, having somewhere safe to take that child where they will be brought up by loving foster parents.

In your daily lives, find something small that you think you can achieve and maintain long term to help your community overcome the vast number of children that are being left to fend for themselves. Even one apple a day for a child in your community that is desperately hungry could change the future so drastically for that little human, so that they too may become someone that adds value to our society.