Wings & Wishes is celebrating 20 years of helping children across South Africa access essential medical care, providing transport for families who would otherwise struggle to reach hospitals and specialist treatment.
What began as a small corporate social investment initiative in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) has grown into a national non-profit organisation that has funded more than 28 000 trips for children requiring medical care.
Wings & Wishes supports children under the age of 18 who need to travel more than 200km to access medical care. Assistance includes flights, bus tickets and fuel vouchers, depending on the family's circumstances.
“We are very proud that we are operating in all nine provinces,” says Inge Human, Manager of Wings & Wishes.
The organisation transports between 50 and 70 children, each accompanied by an adult, every month. Its support extends beyond the journey to hospital, with Wings & Wishes also arranging return transport when children are ready to travel home.
For Human, the organisation's impact is particularly evident in the lives of children from rural communities who previously struggled to access specialist treatment, including transplants.
Wings & Wishes works closely with transplant teams in Johannesburg and Cape Town, helping children reach medical centres within the critical timeframes required for transplants. Human says the organisation has helped four children from the rural Eastern Cape reach transplant centres in time for successful procedures.
The milestone follows a period of funding challenges when the organisation became independent. Wings & Wishes now receives support from several travel industry partners.
FlySafair, which partnered with Wings & Wishes in 2021, funds approximately 600 trips annually. InterCape provides road transport, while Hertz has supported airport and bus station transfers for 20 years. EZShuttles also assists with discounted transfers.
Together, these partnerships cover approximately 85% of the organisation's annual travel needs.
Wings & Wishes also provides children with travel bags containing toiletries, a teddy bear and a blanket. Volunteers, known as travel angels, assist families at airports and bus stations, particularly those travelling for the first time.
Human says the organisation's 20-year milestone is a reminder of both the impact achieved and the growing need for assistance.
“As the financial situation in South Africa gets tougher, more and more people need assistance. We find families that previously made their own way to medical care now just can't afford it,” she says.
Among the families supported is a single mother from Port Elizabeth whose daughter began travelling with Wings & Wishes at four months old. The organisation has supported the family for 10 years, including transport to Johannesburg for the child's liver transplant, for which her mother became the donor.
Human says the family would not have been able to manage the transport costs without the organisation's assistance.
As Wings & Wishes looks ahead to its next milestone, its purpose remains simple: ensuring that where a child lives does not determine whether they can access medical care.
