About us
Meet The Founders
Michael and Jill first & foremost love God, and have a strong desire to fulfil our God given purpose, and secondly, have always had a passion to care for, empower and disciple, orphans and vulnerable children.
A few years back we felt God calling us to leave the workplace and start an organisation that would share The Fathers Heart with these vulnerable, neglected children & help them restore and transform their lives, their families and their God given identity.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to provide a holistic solution, through the provision of the necessary physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual resources to orphans and vulnerable children & their families to enable them to break the cycle of poverty, inequality, and hopelessness.
OUR MODEL IS BUILT ON THESE 2 PILLARS:
OUR VISION
Our vision is to transform the life of every orphan and vulnerable child, by re-establishing their God-given identity and purpose, restoring healthy loving family environments, thereby building strong, stable communities within which they can thrive.
HOW WE DO THIS
TFHCD has been successfully operating as a reputable orphan & vulnerable childcare organisation in the community of Fisantekraal since early 2019, working from a leased premise in the area.
• Working on the ground, every day in the community for the last 5yrs has allowed us to truly establish ourselves as an organisation of integrity & proven results & created the platform for many community cohesion opportunities.
• Currently we provide holistic support and help equip 35families which comprises of 90% single women/widowed ouma’s, who collectively care for 75 orphaned and/or vulnerable children.
• We recently purchased a 6000 m2 plot of land in the centre of this community and are in the process of building The Fisantekraal Child & Youth Development Centre to increase our current impact & reach (by more than 10 times)
• Our Child and Youth Development Centre will enable us to continue providing much needed resources for at risk children, youth & their parents through afterschool programs & various other intentional interventions. It will also create many employment opportunities and offer skills training to people within this high unemployment area.
• Proof of our impact was our nomination for the 2021 Mayoral Community Awards, where we won the category for: “The Organisation whose focus is on hands on solutions with community issues, especially where they improve the lives of the underprivileged and disenfranchised”.
• More important than this award, however, is the feedback and gratitude we receive from the schools, community leaders, our peers and members of the community, as to the positive changes and growth they see in our beneficiaries. It has been encouraging not only to see how their lives have been impacted & improved in all areas pertaining to their overall wellbeing, but also to see their success in building their own bright futures and the overflow to others within their sphere of influence.
TFHCD TEAM
Michael Carolissen
CEO
Mervin Julies
Head of Facilitation
Jill Carolissen
COO
Juanie Julies
Co-Ordinator
Alfreda De Wee
Cook and Cleaner
Megan Hughes
Marketing and Communications Manager
OUR LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE
The Founders of ‘The Fathers Heart Community Development’ Michael and Jill Carolissen were trained and developed by a well-established orphan and vulnerable childcare organisation (OVC) in South Africa.
In early 2019, they were released from this place of incubation and left the corporate world after years of success to pursue and establish, The Fathers Heart Community Development (FHCD) which was incorporated in 2019.
The board of directors and management team are supported by a group of 14 professional volunteers and 22 strategic organisational partners. Their joint backgrounds, combined skillsets and overall commitment to the long-term interventions, ensure the successful delivery of their critical work.
