Background:
Established in by the Anglican Church in1904, St. Anne’s Homes celebrates 100 years of honoring the sacred bond between mother and child; as well as providing a safe, healing environment for these vulnerable families who would otherwise be separated through poverty and unemployment.

Vision:
To see women and children living free from abuse, poverty and discrimination by offering the world a model of care and social empowerment.

Mission:
As an expression of God’s love, we seek to provide shelter and support for pregnant, abused and homeless women with children; through a holistic self-empowerment programme that develops social, personal, creative, vocational skills within the framework of Christian values and discipline and a culture of mutual learning, accountability and respect for the unique value of every human being.

Services:
St. Anne’s House – accommodates 17 women and their children who have just become destitute for a period of 4-6 months
Stroller Moms Shelter – accommodates 10 women and their children who have been living on the streets. Length of stay is determined by individual progress and development.
Second Stage House – accommodates 4 employed women and their children who have come through the first two shelters
Creche/Children’s Programme – offers a full day comprehensive education and therapeutic programme for all the children from the shelter, ex-residents and low-income families in the community

Intervention Programme:
To the Women - Counseling, Alcohol Rehabilitation opportunity, Lifeskills, Arts & Crafts, Vocational & Skills Training, Employment Readiness & Allocation, Child Care Training and shadowing the teachers in the crèche

To the Children – Age-appropriate Education programme, Counseling, Play & Art Therapy for the severely traumatized children, Group therapy i.e. Foot massage / positive touching, etc, Lifeskills, After-school and Holiday programmes

How we break the cycle of dependency and poverty:
• Women are encouraged to take responsibility for their own lives i.e. staff helps them get clear around their goals and then offer lots of support, practical help and guidance as they seek to achieve these goals
• Women are taught to extend themselves to others in need e.g. they visit Old Age homes and spend time with the elderly; visit programmes for abandoned and neglected children; etc
• Women are encouraged to tell their stories in a dignified way – not only the welfare story; but identify the great inner-strength that each one of them possess
• A culture of shared responsibility, mutual learning and respect is encouraged e.g. household chores are shared amongst everybody; leadership abilities are developed as each women gets a chance to be responsible after hours when there is no staff, etc

What we believe about our women / residents
• they are healthy, capable human beings; only desperate to prove themselves to themselves and society
• poverty is not a good enough reason to separate a child from its biological parent, we have a responsibility to ensure that enough alternative opportunities are offered to preserve vulnerable families
• they know what they want from life; they need a safe space to honestly express their needs and get honest support
• a rehabilitated mother is the best gift you can give to a child

Organization’s Impact
• Transformation and empowerment happens on all levels i.e. staff, volunteers, students, management and residents
• In the past ten years we have helped 989 single mothers and their 957 children
On an annual basis about 100 women and 100 children benefit directly from this humane approach to social service delivery.
• Between 60% - 70% success rate i.e. either having been reunited with their
families, found employment and is self-reliant, proactively involved in their own
lives Example: One woman contacted me over the festive season in tears because she has relapsed. She did not keep the appointment where we would talk through her situation. Three months later she came to inform me that she had reclaimed herself – she remembered what she had learnt during rehab treatment and implemented those principles and she is back on track.

Why you should support us
• We follow a Strength-based developmental approach with our clients and staff
• Our work takes into consideration our country’s history and has a strong component of healing and respecting the unique contribution of each person as valid
• We are actively involved in transforming the way that social services are being offered in our country through the various networks e.g. Network on Violence Against Women, Shelter Forum, Homelessness Forum, Street Children’s Forum, HIV/Aids Forum, Health Forum, International networking (UK & USA) etc
• Although our work is microscopical, we can clearly see the importance of this work in the context of our country and the rest of the world
• We seek to implement strong business principles in our management style

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