We areMarang House
Since 1998, Marang House has been a home for children aged 7 to 14 living with serious chronic illness. We provide a safe, nurturing place to live while they receive daily treatment at a tertiary hospital, with their education running alongside, never paused.
No child should have to choose between their health and their future.
The Children We Serve
They arrive from communities across South Africa, children as young as seven, travelling hundreds of kilometres to Johannesburg for life-saving treatment. Many have spent more days in hospital than they have at home. Some arrive frightened. All of them arrive brave.
These are children living with conditions that demand constant medical care: kidney disease requiring dialysis, diabetes needing daily insulin management, and other chronic illnesses with treatment plans that stretch across months and years. Their families often cannot afford the supervision, transport, and environment their children need to heal.
In 1998, Dr Pieter Ernst saw this gap and founded Marang House as a beacon of hope. Marang is the Setswana word for a ray of sunshine, the light we try to bring into the life of every child who walks through our doors.
What began as one doctor’s vision has grown into a home that has served hundreds of children over more than twenty-eight years, proving that healing happens best when a child feels safe, loved, and part of a family.
Meet Salome, Our Matron
“I worked alongside (Founder) Dr Pieter Ernst in theatre. One day he asked me if I would come and help at a children’s home called Marang House. He saw something in me that I couldn’t yet see in myself. Today I know exactly what he saw.”
Children don’t heal because of insulin alone. Children heal because they feel secure and loved.
Every child who comes to Marang House has already faced more than most adults. They leave their families and travel hundreds of kilometres to Johannesburg for life-saving treatment. Many arrive frightened. Some have spent more days in hospital than they have at home. Every one of them deserves to feel safe. That is why Marang House exists.
It takes many people to create that feeling of security. A volunteer helping with homework. A donor buying school shoes. A warm meal after a long day at hospital. A hug before bedtime. Together, those small acts of kindness become something much bigger. They become The Marang House Circle of Light. Together, we are the Lightkeepers.
Security isn’t created in a single day. It is built every single month. That is why monthly giving matters. Because when children know they are safe, healing can begin.
What We Do:
This is Marang House.
Now meet the people who keep the light shining.
Every month, a community of Lightkeepers makes it possible for children to heal in safety. Join the circle, or give once and change a life today.