Poverty is on the rise in South Africa. According to the latest information from Statistics SA (October 2023), 18.2 million people in the country are living in extreme poverty. The quality of life of these individuals is not improving and, given the economic slowdown and rise in unemployment, the challenges facing vulnerable communities – such as hunger, violence, abuse, and neglect – is expected to increase exponentially.

However, there is always hope and as a caring, committed and responsible corporate citizen, Atlas Copco Industrial South Africa has taken hands with the Fountain of Love Orphanage in a bid to fight poverty, keep children safe, help a community and improve lives.  

Founded by Gogo Roseline (Rosy) Duduzile Mthembu, the Fountain of Love Orphanage celebrated its 20th anniversary on July 18 2023.  The Centre is a proudly South African, black-owned, effectively run, full-service orphanage home, based in Katlehong. As the second-largest township after Soweto.  Katlehong has a very high population, is overcrowded, and lacks basic services and amenities.  The needs of this community are great and never-ending.

The good work started in April 2003 when Gogo Rosy found a little boy on the doorstep of her house in Katlehong. He had been abandoned because he was HIV positive. She took him in and went on to open her home to abandoned, abused and HIV/Aids infected children. Today, the home takes care of 56 children on a full-time basis, providing for their every need.

Gogo Rosy, who is an energetic 64-year-old, excitedly and proudly shares her story, “We are so much more than an orphanage; we have many outreach programmes and this year we have helped 1257 people.  We run a soup kitchen from our head office and the Zonkizizwe branch where we feed nearly 310 child-headed families, orphans and other destitute people on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.  We also provide food parcels to senior citizens and people living with disabilities and ensure that they receive their medication. Monthly food donations are shared with needy families where we can.”

The organisation works closely with the Katlehong police and functions as a Place of Safety, keeping lost children until they are reunited with their families. “We have also opened our facility as a Homework Centre to assist children within our surrounding area with their homework as well as for research purposes,” says Gogo Rosy. She adds that they have started a sanitary towel and dignity pack initiative, supplying eighty girls at their local high school every month. This year the community was again blessed by this amazing group of people at the Centre with the distribution of 500 food parcels to needy families, senior citizens and people living with disabilities.  

Commenting on how the team of 23 dedicated and determined volunteers, consisting of administration staff and caregivers, are doing such life-changing work under extremely difficult circumstances, Gogo Rosy responds, “Our home has a lot of responsibilities and it’s not easy running and maintaining a Centre that does so much with so little at hand. There’s so much more that we need due to all the commitments that we have made to our community. “

She elaborates on the challenges facing the organisation, “We are fully dependent on donations from the private sector.  After the pandemic, things have not been easy for the companies that used to assist us monthly. Others have asked us to reduce the grocery lists and the amount of food they give us. It becomes very challenging when our food banks are running low and we are unable to reach all our beneficiaries. We are struggling with getting constant funding to assist in running our day-to-day operations and programmes. We also need a Kombi and fuel to take HIV-infected kids to clinics and to collect their medication, and sometimes we need to take sick children to hospital. Some of our kids attend schools far from the orphanage and the cost of public transport is too high.”

Gogo Rosy expresses her sincere thanks to generous donations from “Good Samaritans like Atlas Copco and Rand Air” that have been part of the Centre’s journey. “The various cash donations that we have been receiving from Atlas Copco and Rand Air since December 2020 have made a huge difference in our Home, helping us to buy groceries, a much-needed geyser and a generator. We were also able to purchase a waterslide and a jumping castle for the kids to enjoy which, together with the generator, is now hired out to help raise more funds.  A boys’ room was built complete with tiled floors and built-in wardrobes. Funds were also to buy school uniforms for the kids. Thank you Atlas Copco, we truly appreciate the level of support that we have received.”

Sharing a few of many happy stories, Gogo Rosy says, “Three graduates are successfully completing qualifications in Cruise Lining, Psychology and Electrical Engineering; two young ladies are 2nd year students enrolled for Human Resource Management and Sport Science; one of our grade 11 boys has been appointed as a School Counselor and there are six kids in grade 12.” Enabling young people to achieve their full potential is something this NGO (Non-Government Organisation) clearly strives for.

The future of the Fountain of Love Orphanage looks promising thanks to heroes like Gogo Rosy and her team. Visualising her dreams, Gogo Rosy concludes,” We would like to have a bigger place where we will be able to accommodate more children and make a difference for the aged, child-headed families and people with disabilities. Having projects like gardening, farming, knitting, and baking for them to attend during the day is on my wish list.“

Atlas Copco is proud to be a part of the Centre’s ongoing drive to better people’s lives. “Congratulations on achieving this 20 year milestone. The phenomenal work that you are doing has changed the lives of so many,” says Marilyn Govender, Human Resource and Compliance Manager - Atlas Copco Industrial South Africa (Pty) Ltd. and Sub-Saharan Africa.