Aristo's Marketing created this powerful series of magazine advertisements for JIKA. Visit Their Site

Click on the ad to see a full size PDF representation.
Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader Free Download.

Dear Reader

In a touching scene from the moving film “The man without a face” a young boy shares something profound to somebody he used to be scared of. The boy tells his newly found burn survivor friend “you know what, I don’t even see your scars anymore”.

At the Jika Foundation we don’t see the scars of burn survivors. We don’t see them as freaks or monsters like they are frequently stigmatized as. But we also do see their scars – especially the psychological and emotional ones. We do see how painful it is not to have a “normal” life after that cursed accident.

The Jika Foundation is a section 21 Company that was founded in 2002. The word “Jika” is the Xhosa word for “turn” and this is exactly what we aim to do - to turn around the lives, particularly those of children, who have survived both the visible and invisible scarring of burn injuries.

In the real world people don’t approach burn survivors in a kind manner – that’s if they approach them at all. There are the parents who struggle to accept their child’s changed physical and emotional condition. There are the fellow classmates who belittle and exclude. And there even are the teachers who patronize and ostracize.

Every year more than a thousand children under the age of thirteen are treated with severe burn injuries in the Western Cape. These injuries result in serious disfigurement and more often than not, in emotional scarring.

But why aren’t more people aware of these burn survivors? Because they drop out of school and they hide. Because they would rather fight their own reality alone than be victimized by uniformed and ignorant communities.

Help us create awareness by donating ad space. Help us extend the rehabilitation of severely injured and traumatised children; build up their physiological and emotional wellness levels; sponsor the training of nurses in burns care, fund the purchase of specialized equipment for post-operative care and generally raise funds for facilities which care for these children such as the Sarah Fox Convalesant Hospital in Athlone and the Dora Nginza Hospital in Port Elizabeth.

By donating ad space to this cause your publication will not only bring significant change to many helpless burn survivors and their loved ones, but also possibly save precious lives.

Sincerely,