Durban - A Sod-turning ceremony was held yesterday to mark the start of the rebuilding of the Edith Benson Babies Home in Sherwood. The home was gutted in a fire in 2018.
The rebuilding project is expected to cost R15 million. To assist with the rebuilding, the Sibaya Community Trust donated R7.5m to the project.
Present at the sod-turning ceremony was Vivian Reddy, chairperson of the Sibaya Community Trust, Desmond Msomi, president of Child Welfare Durban and District, Rajan Pillay, interim general manager at Child Welfare Durban and District, and Rosemary Ntombela, acting chief director for the eThekwini Cluster in the Social Development department.
Reddy, who celebrates his birthday this week, said they were proud to have been involved in many child welfare projects over the years.
“This is our 15th project supporting organisations linked with Child Welfare. About five years ago everyone felt the pain when the Edith Benson Babies Home that houses 60 children was gutted by a fire.
“We as Sibaya Trust decided to change the fate of the babies’ home by donating R7.5m to ensure the rebuild starts in the next few weeks and the babies will be back in the Edith Benson Babies Home as soon as possible.
“It’s so important that the government works with business, as when there are tragedies we need to act as quickly as possible.”
Ntombela said they were excited about the project as it will benefit the greater eThekwini metro and allow the department to accommodate more children.
“When the incident happened in 2018 we had to reduce admission. Now we have to plan accordingly as there will be increased numbers of children. We want to thank the Sibaya Community Trust for making this project possible.”
Msomi said the future of the country depended on how children are treated. “It was a scary experience in 2018 to see the Edith Benson Babies Home destroyed in such a short time in the fire. We are excited to revive the building and thank Mr Reddy and the Sibaya Community Trust.”
Pillay said last year he did a presentation to the Sibaya Community Trust to request a donation to rebuild Edith Benson Babies Home.
“We asked for a donation of R5m. A month ago Mr Reddy on his own increased that amount to R7.5m.”