My name is Gillian Anderson and I am one of the founders of SAYes. We work with young people living in children’s homes in South Africa. We provide them with a mentor who meets with them once a week for a year. The primary role of the mentor is to be a friend. Teaching a young person who has been abused and neglected to trust is a big challenge, but it can also be an incredibly rewarding one. Once trust has been built, a mentor can offer guidance and support as the young person explores the options available to them after leaving the children’s home.
Ours is a very simple programme providing crucial support to these young people. Adolescence can be a very tough time in anybody’s life and for these youngsters it is even harder. More often than not they are not prepared for this big step into independent living, and they often have nowhere to go, no support network, and no safety net when things get tough.
We need your help to extend our programme to the next generation of South Africans. Please support our work by donating your time as a mentor or committing to a monthly donation. Your contribution will help us ensure that more young people in South Africa have the support of a caring, committed adult as they take that first step towards independence.
Become a mentor Make a monthly donation
Note: the archived banner photograph accompanying this message was a portrait of our co-founder and has not been redistributed in this rebuild. See reports/asset-license-notes.md.