Growing Up Without A Father Foundation
Founded By: Charley Pietersen
About The Foundation
Growing Up Without A Father South African Foundation is a;
Non-profit (NPC 2016/209467/08,NPO 192-497, PBO Ref NO: 930054822) organisation founded by Charley Pietersen in 2016.
The vision and objective of The Foundation is to assist fatherless children and foster unity among men across all races through various vehicles and programmes. The aim of these programmes is to create an awareness around the impact of fatherlessness on our families,communities,businesses and the entire Nation.
Purpose Statement
- Combating the scourge of absent fathers in family life, through:
- Creating awareness across societal structures of the serious impacts of this scourge on the fabric of family life, especially our Youth.
- Shifting societal practices, especially among fathers, towards healthy family life by mobilizing all stakeholders on an action plan to address this scourge.
- Building a sustainable programme that involves all members of society, targeting also those at a young age, to reverse the trends of the scourge and to restore the model of responsible and accountable fathers in family life.
- We are saying no ‘Gender-based violence’&’violence against women’
- We are also saying no to ‘violence against men’
- To bring men across racial lines together through dialogue and sharing one another feelings with each other.
The work of the foundation is focussed on outreaches at schools,orphanages,communities and prisons.
The Foundation also has a Woman Empowerment Division established by Brenda Pietersen, the Pure Rose Movement, which aims to uplift women and young girls to be destiny lifters and launch woman entrepreneurs.
Pure Rose also wants to restore hope and dignity to fatherless girls by rescuing them from a life without dreams, from abuse, disease and starvation.
However, as good as the intent is, The Foundation is challenged with limited resources, in particular funding.
More information regarding the Foundation is available on request.
About The Founder
Charley Pietersen grew up in Smithfield, in the Free State, South Africa. He matriculated at Dr. Blok High School in Bloemfontein (Heidedal).
Charley Pietersen was a former CEO of Bloemfontein Celtic Football Club; he is a Businessman, Inspirational Speaker, and Author.He is blessed with four lovely children namely Sharad, Krisnovan, Aiysha and Gallio, grandchildren; Mason, Amani and Leo.
He is passionate and intentional about investing in society in a meaningful way. He displays his passion through his determination to alleviate the impact of fatherlessness in the nation.
Charley is also the author of the biography of Soccer Icon Dr Petrus Molemela previous owner of Bloemfontein Celtic FC and Bernard “Die Hond” Parker.
First National Bank (FNB) offered him a job as a teller in 1988. Charley worked himself up in the banking sector from teller, supervisor, team leader, branch manager to regional manager. He holds a bachelor’s degree in management leadership from the University of the Free State.
He joined Bloemfontein Celtic as CEO in 1999 until 2000 and served on the Premier Soccer League PSL Board of Governors and was part of the delegation from the Premier Soccer League (PSL) that travelled to Zurich, Switzerland, for the 2006 World Cup Bid.
In 2009, he was appointed by the South African Football Association’s Local Organising Committee as Deputy Venue Manager for Mangaung. He was part of organising a successful 2009 Confederations Cup as well as the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
He worked for Megapro Marketing as regional manager of the Free State and Northern Cape. FNB recruited him back again to join them as their sales and service consultant. Later he became general manager of Metro Sales and Support in Johannesburg. He went on to become sales and service director for FNB in the Free State and Northern Cape. Charley was recruited by Standard Bank in 2004 as their regional manager in the Free State.
In 2007, he joined the Office of the Premier in the Free State as AsgiSA Coordinator. He was also fortunate to spend a month in Israel studying agriculture.
He was also a board member of the Free State Cricket Union and was nominated for the 2010 Bloemfonteiner of the Year Competition for his contribution towards the development of the Free State Province and its people. He started Ctrack Mzansi (a fleet management and tracking company) as managing director in 2011 and worked there till 2015.
CHARLEY IS THE AUTHOR OF 7 BOOKS:
- To God Be All The Glory
- I Have Seen It All
- Growing Up Without A Father
- Boy Child You Matter
- Robbed at Gunpoint
- From A Shack To Destiny!
- Co-Author Real Life & Business Minds
ACHIEVEMENTS
- Nominated for the 2010 Bloemfonteiner of the year competition.
- Finalist SA Men Award 2017
- Winner 1st African Award 2018 (Male Empowerment Category)
- Winner Botlhale Literacy Academy Award 2018
- Doctorate in Humanitarianism, Honoris Causa, 2020 (The Global Alliance, USA)
- Ronald Kozachuck Male Civility Award 13 March 2022
- REAL D.A.D. Model Of The Year Award UK 26 September 2020
- ZEUS OIASA 2023 (OLYMPUS INTERNATIONAL AWARDS) AWARDEE
Charley addresses the situation of fatherlessness that is faced not only in South Africa, but across the world. In his book, GROWING UP WITHOUT A FATHER he asks the thought-provoking question, are We A Fatherless Nation?
His vision for the Foundation is to reach the vulnerable, marginalized and to expand spheres of influence that would make meaningful and sustainable contribution to this dilemma.
The purpose of this foundation is to address the issue of fatherlessness head-on with boldness and sincerity. We want to provide hope and inspiration to anyone who has struggled or is struggling with growing up without a father or present and engaged father.
Millions of children around the world and South Africa live in homes without the physical presence of fathers. Millions more have dads who are physically present, but emotionally absent. If it were to be classified as a disease, fatherlessness would be an epidemic worthy of attention as a national emergency.
The impact of fatherlessness can be seen in our homes, schools, hospitals, and prisons. In short, fatherlessness is associated with almost every societal ill facing our country’s children.
Absent fathers are quite possibly the greatest social issue of our time and affects countless millions of lives around the world. –Dr David Molapo
Fatherlessness is the epidemic of our culture, ruining more lives than all diseases put together. It destroys lives but creates generations of pain and despair. –Rick Johnson