Peace Home (a registered NPO) is a shelter for trafficked and abused children in Cape Town, and currently provides a haven for 14 children between the ages of 9 months and 17 years old. The home is run by Aziza Nolan (a child psychologist), who started the home 11 years ago with her own funds.

Sameer Vallie, one of the founders of SAIY, was introduced to Aziza and her story when a relative, wanting to do something different for her own birthday celebration, took a group of family and friends to Peace Home to spend time with the children – Sameer and his wife Shameema were humbled by the experience.

Each child has a unique and often harrowing back story, and for each, the home has given love,  stability, and family. And they are being provided with an education that they have embraced with enthusiasm. Since 2020 Aziza has been home-schooling the children under the separately registered Peace Home Academy.

Crowded into a three bedroom house in Blouberg, the children get up early each weekday, and after breakfast, change into their school uniforms and transform one of the bedrooms into a classroom. On their birthdays, they get to choose their breakfast cereal as a special treat. With no formal funding, Aziza has sacrificed and stretched herself to cover the basic needs of her growing family – but there is certainly no shortage of love in this house. Sameer and Shameema were so overwhelmed by Peace Home that they wanted to do more. Having invited the children to their own home for a joyous fun day of bouncy castles, swimming and playing games, Sameer and Shameema felt as though the Peace Home orphans had in fact graced their own home with their presence. These are definitely children who are already looking for ways to ‘pay it forward’ and bless others who are worse off than they are.