“LIV Lanseria exists to be a life giving village for orphaned and vulnerable children which produces healthy families, empowered communities and future leaders for South Africa.
RESCUE A CHILD. RESTORE A LIFE. RAISE A LEADER. RELEASE A STAR.
Come and say hello:
T: +27 82 465 6972
E: admin@liv-lanseria.com
A: Google Maps
Our Story
LIV Lanseria (previously Refilwe Community Project) has been assisting the Lanseria communities for over 31 years.
Founded in 1991 by Jean Steward and Yvonne Jacques, it started initially as a healthcare clinic and was later renamed Refilwe Community Project. The project developed a strong focus on childcare, community development and skills upliftment through education and mentorship. Refilwe existed to be a light to the community through residential and community programmes for orphaned and vulnerable children.
Joining the LIV family
In 2008, Tich and Joan felt the call of God to start the Lungisisa Indlela Village (LIV), which would become the urgently needed residential facility for orphaned and vulnerable children.
They visited the Wototo villages in Uganda where they saw 19 years of successfully transforming broken lives. The vision was the same. They brought the model back to KwaZulu-Natal.
In August 2018, Refilwe Community Project “merged” with LIV Village to become part of the national movement. We remain a separate Non-Profit Organisation but share values, brand and services. We believe that we can accomplish more united, than we can individually.
Programmes
Our nine programs work with the children in our care and the children in our communities in order to create a brighter future for all.
- El Roi Baby Home
- Refilwe PreSchool
- LIV Families
- LIV After School
- Ithuteng After School
- Kids Club & Holiday Club
- Children's and Youth Ministry
- Volunteers Programme
EL ROI Baby Home
El Roi Baby Home at LIV Lanseria opened its doors in October 2012. Named for “the God who sees us”, El Roi is a place where we provide a safe and loving home for babies on their way to adoption. We currently able to care for up to 15 babies who are on the road to permanency either through reunification or through local and inter-country adoption placements. We are seeking to create a home environment where our babies receive all the things they need to have a healthy, loving and balanced start to life. This is done through intentional bonding therapy and kangaroo care, daily one-on-one stimulation and physical therapies, on-site medical supervision and quality staffing.
Statistically speaking, on average 300 babies are abandoned in Gauteng each month. The majority of those babies are left in dangerous or hidden places. In an effort to open the discussion of adoption and abandonment with our community we installed our very own Baby Safe in 2014. It is a place of anonymous abandonment where a mother could abandon her baby in a safe place. It is a covered, metal box in our palisade fence that has a weighted sensor in it. When a baby is placed in the safe, an alarm rings in the home and an Auntie would quickly fetch the baby. It provides mothers with a chance to abandon her baby to life rather than death and provides our community with a visible reminder that there are options to be considered and help to be received when anyone is dealing with an unplanned or crisis pregnancy. To date we have received six precious babies through our Baby Safe.
We strive to be a parent-directed, value-based home where babies can come to know the love of Christ through every nappy changed, tummy filled and precious face kissed. We are currently employing 11 local women and have two full-time international volunteers who work alongside local health care professionals and volunteers to provide a holistic model of care for each baby.
Baby J came to us as a neglected and very ill newborn in 2013. Over time we began to realise that Baby J was going to have severe special needs and all the specialists had little hope of Baby J ever being matched with a Forever Family.
BUT GOD! Our good, good Father brought a kind and generous Forever Family to adopt our boy in late 2018 and he is now being loved as a son and a brother! We also had the joy of welcoming 14 new babies into our family this past year, 2 who came to us through our Baby Safe, a place of anonymous abandonment here on the LIV Lanseria property. We are currently home to 15 children between the ages of 4 weeks and 3 years.
Refilwe Preschool
The vision of the Refilwe Preschool is to provide high-quality education and stimulation to the young children in the area. Many of these children come from poor families. Quality education will break the poverty cycle and ensure that the children are properly equipped for the next phase of education.
There are currently 86 children in Refilwe Preschool. There are five classes ranging from four months to six years old.
The children receive breakfast, lunch and a snack at the preschool. Research confirms the importance of nutritional meals to increase children’s activity levels, social interactions, curiosity and cognitive functioning.
Although the actual cost of the preschool amounts to R1140 per child per month, the school fees are only R350 per child per month. Only 45 of the children’s parents are able to pay the school fees.
LIV Families
LIV Families is a residential programme for children who are placed in foster care by the department of social development. LIV Families focuses on being part of the solution in providing a healthy family for children previously at risk. The programme offers services of an afterschool programme, transport to local schools, housing for the families, and a safe environment for children to be raised with care and love. Few children are in need of extra educational support so they are placed in schools that are suited for their educational needs.
From our LIV Families programme we have seen some children come through the foster care system to give back to LIV Lanseria. Currently we have four adults who were raised at LIV Lanseria giving back to the organization in different capacities such as volunteer coordinating, office assistance, landscaping, and afterschool tutoring. We are thankful for these irreplaceable assets to the organization as they hold a deep perspective in what it means to be raise in a village and are now helping the village to be better for the future leaders of South Africa.
At LIV Lanseria, we can provide for up to 10 god parent families with between four and six children each.
A loving family structure with Christ at the centre enables children to heal from past trauma and grow into healthy well-balanced adults who can be released as stars into the world. We currently have four homes with a total of 14 foster children and eight biological children.
In 2018, there was a partnership formed with Orion College to provide quality education for five of our girls in foster care. Three of the five girls have now moved from remedial to mainstream learning in the past year. We consider the children we foster to be part of the LIV family. After a child turns 18, we continue to support them with housing and opportunities to continue to grow. We ensure that our young adults leaving home are equipped to face the world. There are currently five young adults who form part of the Independent LIVing programme. In the past two years, two of our young women completed their degrees in tourism and one of our girls is currently pursuing a degree in accounting.
LIV After School
At LIV Afterschool we aim to develop and empower our young people holistically, by creating a safe space to learn and enjoy. We do this through extra learning, life skills, Ixl online study program focusing on core subjects such as maths and English, creative arts, physical activity, bible study & devotions.
LIV Afterschool takes place on the property daily from 14:00- 17:30, primarily for the LIV Foster and biological children. There are currently 8 preschool children, 7 primary aged children and 5 high school children.
We also encourage our children with extracurricular activies such as netball, choir, prayer, worship, and drama. We believe in creating a space where these kids can thrive in their education and spirituality. 85% of the children passed their grade, which is a 4% improvement from the previous year.
Ithutheng After School
The Ithuteng After School at LIV Lanseria is set in the heart of the Joe Slovo community. It is a safe space for 250 children from the surrounding community to receive help with their homework and studies. We also provide extra tutoring and run termly study and career workshops.
Our mission at the afterschool is to improve the English Literacy and Mathematics Skills of the learners so that our learners can achieve their Matric and go on to receive a tertiary education and/or employment.
At the same time, we aim to develop well-rounded individuals through a holistic approach of lifelong learning whereby we provide opportunities for cognitive, emotional, spiritual, physical and social development.
We are passionate about improving our learners’ abilities and we aim to create an environment in which a love for learning can be nurtured. Our sessions are based on the Ikamva Model which emphasises the importance of peer-to peer learning with facilitation by a tutor to guide the learning journey.
At the afterschool we strive to RESCUE children from ending up on the streets, RESTORE their lives and create hope, RAISE leaders and independent citizens of society and, ultimately, RELEASE a star.
We also encourage our children with extracurricular activies such as netball, choir, prayer, worship, and drama. We believe in creating a space where these kids can thrive in their education and spirituality. 85% of the children passed their grade, which is a 4% improvement from the previous year.
LIV Lanseria Holiday Club
Holiday club runs during the school holidays. The program runs from 8:30 – 15:30 for the leaders and 9:30 – 14:00 for the children.
The day is jam packed with games, arts and crafts, sports, bible lessons, food, acting and dance sessions and much much more.
The program is designed by our youth leaders within a framework. They choose the theme, activities, roles and responsibilities.
This is to encourage leadership skills in the youth leaders and also give them something empowering to do over the holidays.
Saturday Kids Club is our version of Children’s Church here at LIV Lanseria. It brings together our own LIV families’ children, as well as children from our neighbouring communities, LIV volunteer staff and day volunteers to share God’s love through playing, prayer, singing, memory verse chants and interactive Bible stories.
Kids Club begins with praying for the day followed by some playtime. Then the Bible story time introduces the kids to the topic we will be talking about during the week at our Bible Studies and we end with a snack.
Kids club attendance is up to 100 children each week. We work with between 20-30 teen helpers from our community. These teens grew up going to Kids Club themselves. They help us with signing our kids in, food distribution, translating, crowd control and set-up and clean-up duties.
Children’s Ministry
Children’s Ministries believes that no star can shine it’s brightest unless they know God and who they are in Him. Children’s Ministries exists to introduce the children of the village, the children of our neighbouring informal settlement (the Joe Slovo settlement), and any other children from the immediate surrounding community around LIV Lanseria to God. To God’s great plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, to God’s great plan for their lives and the great value and worth that each and every one of them has as a result.
Kids Club is our weekly Children’s Church for the kids of the village and the community. We value time spent with our kids and showing them not just telling our kids who God is. So we start each Kids Club with a play time where we can interact with our kids and build relationships with them. Our service then consists of worship songs, Memory verses that have been set to rhythms and chants to make learning fun. We then tell an interactive Bible story that introduces a topic that we will then go deeper with at our four weekly Bible studies which are spread across our two after-schools and different age groups.
Our Holiday Club programme is the final major part of our programme and they are like five Kids Clubs condensed into one week, with five stories usually all from one Bible character, five connected lessons and five new memory verses. The crafts, sports and games we do along with our Bible stories along with the lunch and snacks we provide each day and our friendly team spirit competitions makes our Holiday Clubs the most popular thing Children’s Ministries does while also being one of our most effective ways of sharing the love of Christ with our kids.
Teen Ministry
In our teen ministry, we show our teens God`s love, we listen to their needs, have fun together, come alongside them when they struggle and tell them about their identity in Christ, his great love, sacrifice and plan for them.
Anyone interested is taught everything important about what it means to be a follower of Jesus and we practice worship, prayer and reading and understanding the bible together.
All our teens are encourage to work on their leadership skills as they help the adults to run Kids Club on a Saturday. We give them responsibility, believe in them and hold them accountable; so they have room to grow and try new things in a safe space.
We want to see our teens enabled to become the new generations of leaders in South Africa
The Alpha course was also introduced, and we have already completed the course with two different groups of teenagers. In January we renovated an old apartment to create a “Youth Centre” for the teenagers. We use this space for our various activities.
Volunteer Programme
Volunteers are an essential component in helping the LIV Lanseria programmes run well. LIV Lanseria encourages corporate, local, residential and group volunteers.
These types of volunteers uplift our programmes through particular skill sets, sustain them through consistency and relationships and develop programmes through projects or manual labour. There are many ways to volunteer at LIV Lanseria throughout the week.
During the year, we were incredibly blessed with many volunteers offering their different skill sets! One of the areas that we felt extremely grateful for was all the occupational therapists that plugged into our Baby Home as well as our Ithuteng Aftercare centre.
Contact & Giving info
Direct Deposit and other giving methods:
Please use your name as the reference on each deposit made and email proof of payment to admin@liv-lanseria.com so that we can personally thank you for your generosity.
LIV Lanseria Bank Details
Account Name: LIV Lanseria
Bank: First National Bank
Branch Name: Cresta
Branch Code: 254905
Account Number: 61144044023
Swift Code: FIRNZAJJ768
LIV Stitching Refilwe Bank Details
Account Name: Stichting Refilwe
Bank: Rabobank
Branch Name: Rekening
Branch Code: 254905
Account Number: Dissel 7 8281 ML Genemuiden
KVK: NL37RABO.0332.1078.92
58113843
LIV UK Bank Details
Account Name: Friends of Refilwe
Bank: Natwest Bank
Branch Name: West Kirby Branch, 10 Banks Road, West Kirby, CH48 4LG
Account Number: 77660021
Registration Number: 1168982
LIV USA Banking Details
Account Name: National Christian Foundation
Bank: Bank of North Georgia
A Division of Synovus Bank (Alpharetta, GA)
Account Number: 061100606
Reference: #2534777LIVLANSERIA
Other ways to give 🙂
Givengain Fundraising
Direct Debit (debit order)
If you do not wish to pay online, but would like to sign up for a monthly or single donation, please download a Direct Debit form, complete and email back to admin@liv-lanseria.com
USA Postal Giving
National Christian Foundation
Mail to ATTN: Contribution Services
11625 Rainwater Drive, Suite 500 Alpharetta, GA 30009
(Please include a note that explains what you are donating to with THE LIV Fund #2534777LIVLANSERIA in the check memo)
LIV Lanseria Bank Details
Account Name: LIV Lanseria
Bank: First National Bank
Branch Name: Cresta
Branch Code: 254905
Account Number: 61144044023
Swift Code: FIRNZAJJ768
LIV Stitching Refilwe Banking Details
Account Name: Stichting Refilwe
Bank: Rabobank
Branch Name: Rekening
Branch Code: 254905
Account Number: Dissel 7 8281 ML Genemuiden
KVK: NL37RABO.0332.1078.92
58113843
Partner with LIV
Do good and reap the benefits on your BBBEE scorecard
LIV is B-BBEE verified and is able to give both B-BBEE thank you letters as well as Section 18As as we are a registered PBO.
BEE Details
N.P.O No: 025-397-NPO
P.B.O No: 930013722
V.A.T No: 9629108144
Black Beneficiary Status:
Black, South African Beneficiaries: 85.00%
B-BBEE SED Recognition: 100.00%
Get in touch
We would love to hear from you. Better yet, why not pay us a visit?
Call Us
T: +27 82 465 6972
F: +27 86 510 4036
NETHERLANDS OFFICE:
T: +31 641 85 89 01
T: +31 628 25 06 34
UK OFFICE:
T: +44 121 272 7259
Find Us
Plot 87 & 90
Pelindaba Road (R512)
Lanseria, Johannesburg
NETHERLANDS OFFICE:
Dissel 7, 8281 ML Genemuiden,
Netherlands
UK OFFICE:
Cornerstone House, 5 Ethel Street
Birmingham, B2 4BG, UK
