Children of Fire

We were promised our Johannesburg School for Blind Low Vision and Multiple Disability building (Beka) building in perpetuity in 2002 and successfully ran a school there for 21 years. Despite us building a R70,000 palisade perimeter fence and four gates, conversion of the garage into a library, construction of an ablution block, construction of a brick-edged sandpit, spray on safety matting, a wheelchair ramp, a tiled and granite-countered twice-refurbished kitchen, installation of disabled-friendly toilets, installation of a fire door, smoke alarms, significant rewiring and replumbing, re-flooring and more, the building was sold without our agreement and without unjustified enrichment of at least R350,000 being reimbursed to the Trust which ran the school. We would still like pro bono legal assistance in this matter.

We started the year with surgery for a teenager with a massive head injury that has not healed in the five-and-a-half years since two aunts tried to murder him by burning. He only joined us at the end of 2024. Physically, medically, psychologically, educationally, emotionally, nutritionally, he is very hard to repair. While it is beyond comprehension how poorly-served he has been by structures meant to help him, we will do our best. Through our efforts, one of the alleged assailants has now been arrested; the other remains at large.

Our Founder is looking for a successor. The person will need a medical and human rights background, be prepared to work all the hours that God sends, to feel compassion and empathy for the most-broken, the most-shunned, the cases that even doctors think are impossible. It takes a mix of righteous anger, deep love for humankind, and a windmill-tilting determination to travel from slums to skyscrapers in search of solutions. And a strong sense of humour to counterbalance the brutality, the evil, the callous indifference that they'll encounter.

We are not having on-site activities for Mandela Day 18th July 2025.

Having met Nelson Mandela many years ago, we believe that he would like the idea of Mandela Day and of the 67 donated minutes of effort, but that he might have much preferred longer-term and more committed involvement in causes of your choice.

We've "done" Mandela Day (week, month) for a while. It can train a charity in Event Management but mostly takes us away from our core work into something of no lasting benefit. So, here's our challenge to you. If you're too busy to do something hands on, then please send R67 or R670 or even R6700 to the bank account under "donations" on our website. If you are a UK taxpayer, you can donate on Children of Fire International's Just Giving page in pounds, Euros, dollars, Yen, and the UK government will top up your donations with an extra 25% of Gift Aid. That extra always helps.

Email firechildren@icon.co.za if you need clarification or DM us on Twitter (X). It is our intention to migrate to Blue Sky.

But if you'd like to be involved in a more proactive way, how about 67 squatter camp literacy sessions in Johannesburg with the most impoverished communities.. that's a little more than a year of Saturday half-mornings. There you'll actually get to learn children's names and see them thrive with the attention that too-often their parents cannot give them. Or even signing up for an Internship (see details also on home page). Or if you'd like to collect objects, well 67 tins of tuna would be great. Or pilchards. Or tinned tomato and onions. Non-perishables. We do not have the capacity to store a lot of rice, pasta or maize meal and we don't want to risk mice moving in.

For hospital trips, 67 bars of soap or face cloths or story books will be distributed when we visit Leratong, Charlotte Maxeke, Tembisa or far further afield.

We are no longer seeking second hand clothing except if called upon to help at a large fire scene, in which case we'll put out a specific appeal at the time, on social media.

As it has become extremely difficult to get surgical solutions for burned children in need of help, we need a two-pronged approach going forward.

To work repeatedly on Injury Prevention to stop so many millions of children getting burned each year.

And to try to find a team to make the Chishamiso Place of Miracles Hospital a reality. To serve the burned children of sub-Saharan Africa, based in Botswana, and to provide emergency burns care, free of charge, it would be then literally a Place of Miracles. Far better to handle a bad burn effectively with a top-notch team, withing 48 hours of injury, than to struggle to cut away contractures ten years down the line. Such a hospital needs big donations like 67 million dollars � and big thinkers who want to leave a lasting legacy to the children of Africa.

Ideally several surgeons who've worked 20 years in the West but who still have lots of energy and drive in them, could partner with African counterparts to refine the planning that we've already done. It can be a place of tremendous academic excellence and, while saving lives and preserving quality of life, research can also be carried out on issues that are particularly dominant in Africa, such as keloids.

The task is enormous but our inspiration from dear Dorah, the bravest of the brave, is also enormous. Here's a link to her celebration last year: NEWS24

Greetings for 2025!