Armed with only her passion and the advise from Monica Brown (Missing Children South Africa), she recently founded Identi Masses, a non-profit organisation (NPO) that ensures that various pertinent information of children between the ages of birth and 18 are registered on their national database.
Knowing that a child disappears every six hours in South Africa, which equates to more than 1 400 per annum, with more than 13 per cent of all these never being found, Wilson aims to enter all the country's children on a database.
The child's personal information (unique marks, hair colour, height and weight), high definition photographs with face recognition and electronic fingerprints (high resolution), which are usable by the police, are a few of the details that are entered.
Besides the above, parents further have the option of having their children's DNA registered. "This is completely optional," stressed Wilson. "The only reason we enter the DNA is should, heaven forbid, the remains of a child be found, this information could assist the authorities in identifying who they belong to.
"Every parent needs to know what happened to their missing child and get closure," she explained.
The collection of the DNA sample is completely non-invasive. It is collected by means of a buckle swab that is taken from the inside of the cheek by means of a sterile swab. The entire procedure takes approximately 20 seconds. This sample is then sealed and marked with a unique barcode that corresponds to the other detailed information of the specific child. "All our DNA is locked away in a high security, access controlled safe. Only a bona fide policeman and a registered member of our staff will have access to this DNA to be used for identification purposes only," stressed Wilson.
The Identi Masses Sure Safe database is available 24/7, which will enable police quick access to the necessary information should any of the registered children go missing.
"When a parent notices their child is missing, the police will immediately be able to circulate a recent face recognition high definition photograph of the child as well as other vital information," stressed Wilson.
Asked how long Identi Masses plans to be in the George area, Wilson replied: "For as long as it takes to get all the children on the database."
Data collection is free, but a fee of R100 for two years will ensure that a child's information is readily available.
"We are appealing to businesses, churches, organisations and individuals to help an underprivileged child to be registered by donating R100. This will allow us to have their details on our database for two years," she concluded.
For further information contact Wilma Wilson on 076 677 8153.
The Identi Masses team currently visiting George. Back, from left: Matie Fourie, Russell Martin, Trevor Batt, Sean Theron, Wilma Wilson (founder) and Mina Carolussen. Front, from left: Zelda Minnaar, Kedi Mokhitli and Zarrah Abrahams (Denneoord Primary School pupil who had her data recently captured.) Photos: Fran Kirsten
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