INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

passages of scripture relevant to childcare, such as “Jesus said let the children come to
me.”
One could no more envision the center without its religious background than one
could imagine Pastor Mike without his level of commitment to the center. While in South
Africa, it is common for many Christian ministers to be widely addressed by the title of
Pastor or Father, it remained a bit of a surprise when Pastor Mike’s wife would also refer
to him as Pastor. His level of commitment to the center had also become deeply
personalized. In recent years a major concern had been that he had not made his health
more of a priority as he continued to look for ways to enrich 5Cees, enduring the effects
of advanced diabetes. The center was not subtle about its Christian background. A
running joke among many was that three of the five cees were religious in nature.
Because 5Cees is extremely transparent about its religious nature, this aspect of its
operations do not catch anybody by surprise. Because most of the children’s families are
introduced to Pastor Mike as a minister, the ones who agree to allow their children to live
at 5Cees must have a certain level of comfort with this reality. Although Pastor Mike and
his staff are firm in their Christianity, they have expressed willingness to work with a
variety of partners. In his experience, any hesitancy surrounding a relationship between a
donor and the center comes more from the potential donor’s reservations about working
with a Christian center, rather than the center’s reluctance to work outside its religious
circle. Pastor Mike further reiterates that he is “not trying to shove religion down the
children’s throats.” Ultimately, decisions surrounding the children’s spiritual beliefs
remain up to them.
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