67 ways to help this Mandela Day: Providing a SafePlace for victims of abuse and violence

SafePlace offers an immediate place of safety for vulnerable people in communities around the Port Shepstone area in KwaZulu-Natal. Many of the people they serve are victims of abuse, gender-based violence, rape, and sexual assault.

A SafePlace is a "run-to" facility located in close proximity to a community, aimed at facilitating a place of refuge that people who are under threat of, or have been subject to, an act of violence can secure transitional safety.

Once a “run-to” unit is established in an area, the SafePlace team is able to roll out other aspects of support that help provide physical, emotional, and psycho-social safety.

Security

SafePlace Units exist to protect the most vulnerable members in our society with run-to facilities for those who are escaping gender-based violence, abuse, or sexual assault during the most dangerous times of the night.

Social Services

A member of the Social Services team is always on call to help with initial trauma response as well as follow up counselling and long-term assistance for families and individuals who have experienced trauma.

SafePlay

In the afternoons, SafePlace works to empower the generation of youth by giving them space to safely be with friends, play sports and games, and opportunities to get ahead educationally, and to grow emotionally. They teach social and life skills that will hopefully serve to help eradicate the epidemic of gender-based violence in our country.

Each of these three aspects of SafePlace aim to make communities safer in the short term and the long term.