About

At Wings and Wishes, we are dedicated to transporting critically and chronically ill children to receive the lifesaving specialist medical care that they require.

Our objective is to provide transport for children, who are deemed financially less fortunate, to receive life-saving and/or specialised medical treatment which they require – anywhere in South Africa.

In addition, we provide compassionate and professional assistance to these children and their families, ensuring they have immediate access to the essential medical services which they need, and which are not available to them at a local level.

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Our aim is to reduce premature and preventable child mortality rates, by facilitating access to specialised medical care, for those children who are critically in need of such treatment.

We assist families with

Transport Bookings – we make all the necessary travel arrangements for the child and an accompanying adult – whether by bus, aeroplane or car (or a combination of these)
Mercy/Care packs – each child receives a pack with some essentials, such as toiletries, pyjamas and activities, for while they are in hospital. For Bus travellers, this includes refreshments
Continued support – Once a child is registered with us, they will receive continued support in the form of travel costs, until the age of 18
Family support services such as a Christmas party, bereavement support group, pamper days for primary caregivers

THE TEAM

Meet our Manager who has more than 30 years experience in the NGO field and is passionate about children.

Inge Human

Manager

Inge is a dynamic well known and respected qualified Social Worker. Inge has changed the face of NGO Management and creative solution delivery to life-threatening situations. Inge has been a leader in the NGO field for more than 13 years.

Delivered a paper at the International Victimology Conference in Montreal, Canada
Implemented Victim Support Centers at Police Stations in the Eastern Cape
2006 – Algoa FM Women of Worth Finalist
2011 – PE Business Women’s Association Social Entrepreneur of the Year.

Inge is passionate about people, especially children, believing that all people should be treated with dignity & respect.

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JOURNEY

We opened our doors in 2006 when a handful of incredibly compassionate employees at Coca-Cola saw that there was a desperate need for critically ill children to get to the hospitals they needed to in order to have the care they so urgently needed. Their objective was to assist these critically ill children to access the quality care that was required in order to heal.

This small group of people started by helping children who were in dire need of medical attention to travel to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town.

There they could receive specialist care from the correct medical practitioners.

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At this time there wasn’t adequate specialist paediatric care in Port Elizabeth, and so they started collecting voyager miles and donations, so that these children could be flown to Cape Town – mostly for cardiac and renal impairments.

We have grown so much since those early days, with the small team of highly dedicated people driving this initiative.

The paediatric care available in Port Elizabeth has also, vastly improved over the years. However the need for children to reach the care that they need has increased greatly.

In South Africa, in particular, many families live in rural and remote areas, and simply cannot afford the transport required for their critically and chronically ill children to receive specialised care in the major centres.

On average, we are fortunate enough to transport over 140 critically and chronically ill children every month – but this is a mere fraction of the children in Southern Africa who desperately need assistance. As a result, many children succumb to their illnesses.

For many, we are the only consistent hope that these children will be able to receive the care which they so desperately need.

In 2018, we spread our own wings and became independent of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa.