About

Our vision

Our philosophy is that every child should have the opportunity to become a healthy, productive adult. The Thoughtful Path is designed to engage an entire community and enable its most vulnerable children to grow into empowered adults. We aim to increase life-expectancy, improve health, and enhance children’s life-long contribution to their community

Munsieville

Munsieville is a community of over 50,000 people, including over 18,000 orphans and vulnerable children, bordering Krugersdorp on Gauteng’s West Rand. We chose to work in Munsieville as it is one of South Africa’s oldest undeveloped townships and orphans and other vulnerable children there die young and are unable to escape the cycle of inter-generational poverty

Our late patron

Munsieville was the childhood home of our patron, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, whose sister Gloria Radebe still lives there. Archbishop Tutu says: “This is a most impressive project in the township where I spent much of my childhood. I urge you to lend it your support so that together, we can accomplish something remarkable for our children and young people.”

Meet Our People

Betty Nkoana

Project Director, Thoughtful Path Munsieville

Betty has been leading the Thoughtful Path programme locally since 2010. Betty overseas the operations in Hope Park, our children’s health campus, and manages the collaboration between stakeholders and partners.

Gladys Hanxa

Manager, Hope Park Nutrition Centre

Gladys has a qualification in office administration, and now transfers her knowledge into presentations, booking systems and workshop organisation as the Nutrition Centre Manager. She lives at Hope Park with her children and oversees the premises. Her interest in growing vegetables and healthy cooking ensures workshops benefit the community.

Saffiera Sello

Senior Case Worker

Saffiera joined the team in 2012 and has been supporting the programme with her experience and wisdom ever since. Saffiera lives in Munsieville and has become a valuable contact for parents and caregivers needing support in the struggles with paperwork and complex registration processes. She also guides caregivers and helps obtaining legal papers such as birth certificates and IDs from the Dept for Home Affairs.

Anette von Block

Chief Operations Officer

Anette has a degree in International Development, did research on traditional healing in South Africa, and is co-author of the Adverse Childhood Experience Study in Munsieville. She works closely with the Thoughtful Path Team until the whole programme is fully sustainable within the township community.

Contact Anette
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