ABOUT

A PLACE CALLED HOME

There is great need in the Western Cape to assist the many children at risk. The St Georges Home for Girls in Wynberg, Cape Town is one such organisation that responded to this call. The Home has a rich legacy that dates back more than a hundred years to 1862 when the first child was taken in.

St Georges Home for Girls is a registered Children’s Home with the Dept: Social Development. In fact, it is currently the only residential care facility in the Wynberg District which provides for children who are abused, abandoned, neglected and orphaned. Children from failed foster placements and those with behavioural problems are also cared for.

By providing specialised care and education and teaching life skills to the girls within a secure environment, caregivers empower them with the necessary skills and knowledge to become confident individuals. Equipped with these vital tools the girls are eventually able to leave the home and make a positive contribution to society.

In order to nurture the children, the home strives to provide an environment that closely resembles a warm, loving and caring family home. The forty girls between the ages of two and eighteen are divided into four smaller families of all ages, each in the care of its own Child Care Worker. Overall care is provided by a Relief Child Care Worker and the Social Welfare Co-ordinator.

The girls are fully integrated into the local community. They attend schools in the surrounding areas, worship at a church of their choice, and are actively involved in extra-mural activities.

St Georges Home for Girls provides a safe haven for girls in need. The Home plays an invaluable role in South African society and the staff and management remain dedicated and committed to ensuring the continued wellbeing of the girls who have been placed in their care.

BACKGROUND: During 1870’s there were 200 orphans in the institution. Ms. Mary Arthur opened a mission school at which some of the girls were trained to become teachers of the younger ones. On the 19th December 1891 Ms. Mary Arthur died. Thomas Fothergill Lightfoot succeeded as the superintendent.

Plans were produced for additions to the St Georges Orphanage and a new wing was opened by Dr. William Marlborough Carter on 5th December 1917.The trustees of St Georges orphanage Cape Town sold certain pieces of land on which were situated Granite Lodge and the old St Georges Orphanage, Cape Town. Granite Lodge was later used as a
boarding house.

As the work grew, the institution moved from Granite
Lodge to Scandia in Rosebank. HRH Princess Alice
opened the Rosenbank Home. The Home moved later
to Kincora in Claremont.

In 1970 the new home in Wynberg, St Georges House,
was opened by the Archbishop of Cape Town, Most
Rev. Robert Selby Taylor. We have 40 girls at the Home at
present. We are still operating from 5 Bute Road Wynberg
to this date.