The Free Citizen Project is a tax-exempt charitable organization established to provide support for the education of disadvantaged people around the world, to help them develop their talents and to thereby become the free and productive citizens they were created to be.

How we Work

We partner with existing organizations and people worldwide, providing financial and volunteer support for distinct projects in which those organizations and people are engaged. We do this by connecting people with particular skills or resources, such as teachers, professionals and philanthropists, with the organizations and needs that can put those skills and resources to maximum effect. Our approach is simple and effective: God has provided everything that we need to make a difference - all the resources, and all the "bits and pieces" already exist or will be provided as we need them. Our task is to accept the invitation to make a difference - assemble everything, make the connections, and "oil the machine" so that our volunteers and philanthropic partners can help our partner organizations and people on the ground in each project area to help the people they serve to develop their talents and become free and productive citizens of their districts, towns, villages, cities, countries and of the world.

 Our History

The Free Citizen Project is inspired by the story of the Methodist Children's Care Center in Vryburg, South Africa. Vryburg is in a rural area of the northern Cape in South Africa, 400 km (240 miles) from Johannesburg. In 1975 the Reverend Harold Brooks and his wife started to take into their home children of poorly educated farmworkers from the farms in the Vryburg area, who were receiving no formal education. In 1980 they built a proper Children's Home. This allowed the children to receive an education that would have otherwise eluded them. At its peak the project accommodated 200 children, and it counts among its graduates numerous professionals (teachers, doctors, lawyers and accountants) and countless others who were able to develop their God-given talents because of the work of all of the people involved with the project.

Sytzke and Hilmar Kratz, the parents of Free Citizen Project founder Erwin Kratz, became involved with supporting the Children's Care Center in the early 1980s, along with others at the Methodist Church in Bryanston. Their legacy on this project is well summarized by the eulogy for Sytzke at her funeral in July 2025, delivered by the Reverend Peter Witbooi, which starts at the 28:40 mark of the video here: https://www.youtube.com/live/TM5CIZ1Cl1U?si=mk_DEPZ-JgRPvTij

Following the advent of democracy in 1994, the South African Department of Education, recognizing that education is a state responsibility, began building hostels, which accommodated many of these children. As a result, the Care Centre had fewer and fewer children. By 2018, there were only 19 children and five full-time workers at the Care Center. Due to the service becoming outdated and the facility being financially unsustainable, the building became dilapidated and the Children's Care Center officially closed down at the end of 2018. 

In 2019, the Care Center was repurposed. In October 2019, the South African Department of Health, in urgent need of a temporary space after their Colridge clinic was condemned, rented half of the building, where it set up a clinic. This clinic is expected to move out soon, as a new site has been prepared. The rest of the Care Center building was repurposed as a conference and meeting venue, where it offers sleeping accommodation for 100 people, a big hall, a mini hall, and a kitchen. It is used by various groups, including churches for conferences, the aged for regular meetings, and the community for a gym. It is still called the Children's Care Center and operates as a registered non-profit organization that still falls under the Methodist Church. 

Contact erwin@freecitizenproject.org to get more information on the Free Citizen Project; to learn how you can become involved in one of our projects; or to propose a project for our support

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View Our I.R.S. Tax Exempt Organization Determination Letter