Volunteers’ letters
Liz van Niekerk
Dear Shelley
This has been an extraordinary time for us all. We have not been able to engage with our teachers and children as we would have liked, but there are always positives that come out of difficult times.
I started a WhatsApp group with the teachers, which has proved invaluable for communicating with them all, and we have many discussions (not always e'Pap related) on matters that affect everyone. This has enabled us to feel more connected, despite the isolation imposed on us by the virus.
One of our creches has closed, due to financial constraints and some of our volunteers are not able to be involved during these 'Covid Times'. But the distribution of e'Pap and other items has been undertaken by other members of our team. READ MORE
Angela Meister
Dear Shelley & Liz,
I am "doing my job" without much enthusiasm at the moment. So I am sorry but will not contribute to your call for colourful stories. I would have to make it up. I am either not long enough with you guys, or am disillusioned during Covid times where the contact to the group of volunteers is not really available nor do I meet the children. I drop the e-pap at the door. The teachers are busy and not inviting. I did not witness any growth or happy children.
And sure it is also my own personality....and avoidance of too much contact during lockdowns. What I am also saying is that volunteering for me is out of desperation about the poverty around us and at the same time. READ MORE
Mike and Dawn Pearce
We have continued to deliver epap both to Beauty at Bongelethu and to Singatha. Singatha seems to be running full but Beauty still has fewer kids than normal. Mike has been doing the deliveries. I have been madly knitting beanies and giving them to the church (St Thomas’s Woman’s auxiliary) and they have parcelled them up for distribution to the creches. Last week Singatha received her batch and this is a photo of her kids having received theirs
Lorna Morley
Besides our EPAP deliveries we also delivered some toys for the children which were donated by a friend! Of course there were many delighted children that day!
Joan Kohler
I love seeing my principals when I drop off their supplies...I stay in the car and they take it out of my boot, but we have lovely chats and laughs through the window!! Each time I Whats App my ladies I get such wonderful messages of appreciation and it’s very special to count them as my friends. The cook from Flamingo was forced to retire due to chronic diabetes but Lorna and I have kept in touch with her. She’s become our Wittedrit “angel” and a day doesn’t go by without her sending a prayer or inspirational picture...sometimes twice a day!!!
We visit her from time to time at her humble home and she even has verses from Scripture on her fence. That has been very humbling for two privileged ladies with beautiful homes in Plett. We can’t go inside with her at present but stand in the road and chat! And she knows she’s our angel!!
Rina Nicolopulos
Being the bearer of good food to the 135 children at Theodora’s these last 6 years, I noticed the children enjoying the e’Pap and growing strong.
I got to know Sandra Fick and the teachers quite well. Sandra turned 65 and retired the end of June after 40 years of looking after so many New Horizon children, and many of their children’s children.
Theodora’s has suffered much during this time of covid and overall poverty, often the building got vandalized even the veggies that grew from seed that was sponsored got stolen!
In spite of all this, the e’Pap many of the children enjoy daily is the only truly nutritional meal and I am so grateful on behalf of all those precious little people to everyone who makes this possible.
