Frida Hartley Shelter

General information

In 1923 wealthy socialite Frida Hartley gave up her comfortable life in London and headed to Johannesburg, where she opened a shelter for destitute women, a solid one-storey brick building in Bellevue.

Ninety years later the Frida Hartley Shelter is still solid, standing in a quiet, jacaranda-lined street of modest houses and small blocks of flats. And its doors are still open to penniless and abandoned women, some of them pregnant, and their children.

Frida Hartley shelter has since become a safe-haven for abused and vulnerable women and children, as well as young teenage girls. The ladies and young girls that come to the house have all been the victims of abuse and violence, such as suffering sexual trauma, domestic violence, etc. These ladies all have one desire and that is to regain their dignity in the community and live a normal life.

Frida Hartley shelter ensures that the ladies regain their human dignity and self-worth. We can accommodate mothers together with their children, thereby keeping the family together as a unit. The services we offer include but not limited to counseling, therapy, life skills, work skills etc, thus eventually enabling them to fend for themselves and their children.

Frida Hartley offers long term accommodation ranging from 3 months up to 12 months. During their stay at FHS the ladies are assisted to find employment and helped with financial management so they can handle their salaries better. Once they have saved up enough money to find accommodation of their own they leave our premises having become productive members of the community.

FHS offers an in house crèche for the smaller children, this enable the mothers to have a safe place to keep their kids while they attend training and or seek employment. The older children attend the neighboring schools.

Specific programmes that are presented include: Spiritual counseling; Life Coaching – Inner Life Skills and Group Therapy; Trauma Debriefing; Skills development classes, work skills ( how to dress for success), financial management, basic computer training, catering management etc

We are able to accommodate a proximally 20 women and their children and (presently we have 15 women and 14 children- ages between 2 weeks -6 years).

Our success rate is 75%, with heart warming stories of women who have really transformed their lives and lives of their children. It is such a joy to witness these women finding employment and regaining their self esteem.

It is our mission to Add value and provide a quality services in the community. Without the assistance of community minded individuals just like you, we wouldn’t be able to serve those in our community.

Thank you for even considering our organisation.