Tshego Sebitloane
Karabo Onthatile Masimone Shago is a Social Work Honours Student at the University of the Free State and is currently doing her practicals at Kidz Care Trust.
Karabo was born and bred at Brandfort and attended Monamodi Primary School till Grade 2 and later moved to Sacsonia Intermediate School. She then moved to Bloemfontein in 2008, to attend Navalsig High School, where she was the vice-headgirl in her Matric year in 2012.
Karabo is the last born and she describes her family as “loving and supportive” and she wants to be able to give other people the same love and support she has received from her family.
In her third year, they were given a list of organisations they had to choose from for their practicals and Kidz Care Trust was her first choice. She was fortunate enough to be granted the opportunity to do her practicals there.
Kidz Care Trust is a non-profit, civil society organisation that delivers a range of care and developmental service to children living and working in the streets of Bloemfontein. The organisation has been running since 1991 and all services are guided by international and national legislation such as the United Nations Convention on the Human Rights of the Child, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,South African Constitution and the Children’s Act among others.
Asked about what inspired her to choose the Kidz Care Trust Shelter, Karabo answered “growing up I was privileged enough to witness and experience love, a sense of belonging, as well as being brought up in a family where I was secure psychologically, financially and spiritually”, making her realise that the children at the shelter never got to experience any of that and never had a sense of belonging . Karabo saw working at the shelter as an opportunity to give those children hope.
The shelter is only for boys under the age of 18 and does not have any sport facilities. Karabo feels that sport facilities will be of great importance as some of the boys never got to attend school and cognitively, are not developed so developing them socially might be helpful, anything that will give them a sense of belonging.
Karabo is passionate about helping the boys and making a difference in their lives, she mentioned that the boys are resilient because despite the difficulties they faced they are still hopeful and want to better their circumstances.
