A new long-term partnership of Mix for Kids helps children in residential care in South Africa

The relationship between Kräuter Mix and South Africa is primarily based on natural ingredients such as rosehip, orange blossom and rooibos tea. At Mix for Kids, the nonprofit organization supported by the company and employees, a new connection to South Africa is focused on helping socially disadvantaged children:

In cooperation with the Franciscan Sisters of Overzell, whose social commitment extends far beyond their convent in Zell am Main, Mix for Kids supported a residential facility for children in South Africa for the first time last year: Through to a private holiday fundraising campaign, a total of €3,000 was collected and used to finance urgent purchases such as a new refrigerator, clothing, school supplies and towels for the children. This collaboration has now evolved into a long-term partnership, with Mix for Kids intending to provide regular financial support to the St. Joseph Child & Youth Care Center in Mbongolwane. This year, the nonprofit is supporting the children’s home by helping to cover the cost of providing the children with a healthy breakfast for several months.

Located around 500 km south-east of Johannesburg on a remote hill in the province of KwaZulu Natal, the residential facility currently provides a nurturing home for 33 girls and boys ranging in age from infants to 14-year-olds. The Oberzell Sisters run the home and an affiliated preschool in Mbongolwane. Together with a team of caregivers, they lovingly look after the children, ensuring they are well-fed, healthy, and properly educated – in a region where poverty is rampant.

Julia Scharnagl, coordinator and fundraising officer at the Franciscan Sisters of Overzell

“The children come from difficult environments. They come to us for many reasons, primarily poverty and food insecurity, but unfortunately also violence and abuse. Sometimes they are found, and initially, we don’t even know who their parents are,” explains Julia Scharnagl, a coordinator and fundraising officer at the Franciscan Sisters of Overzell. She lived in South Africa with her family for several years as a foreign aid worker and still returns to Mbongolwane. As such, she is familiar with the problems and challenges the St. Joseph Child & Youth Care Center encounters and serves as the first point of contact for Mix for Kids. As a rule, the nonprofit maintains direct contact with the relief projects and partners it supports, both in Germany and abroad.

For more information on the partnership with the Oberzell Franciscans’ children’s residential facility in South Africa, please visit: www.mixforkids.de/suedafrika/