Irma Joubert’s mission to get vulnerable children whole again

For more than two decades, Irma Joubert has devoted her life to children who have nowhere else to go. At the Daily Bread Child and Youth Care Centre in Mount Coke, Joubert now cares for 101 children between the ages of three and 18, many of whom arrive carrying the weight of abuse, neglect or loss. “Some are orphaned, but many come from very difficult circumstances of abuse and neglect, and they don’t have people who can take care of them, so they are placed in a safe environment like this.” The centre, established in 1987 through a trust created from two farms, has grown into a refuge for vulnerable children in Buffalo City Metro.

Joubert’s journey with the organisation began in 2002 when she joined the board, but it was not long before she realised that helping from a distance was not enough. “To really make a difference, you can’t do it from the outside,” she said. “Our aim is to get the children whole again. We want them healed and prepared to face the future,” Joubert said.