Making a safe space even safer
I met Lizzie (Elizabeth Maans) when I was asked to debrief her because she deals with some severe cases, as a victim support volunteer at the Fisantekraal division of the Durbanville Police Department. Lizzie works with the police, Bellville Department of Social Development and the court in Bellville to offer children in need a safe space.
In addition to this Lizzie’s heart is to feed the children and the old people of Fisantekraal. She’s called her soup kitchen and foster home, based out of her house, Lizzie’s Happy Care Home. She has a particular soft spot for children as she lost her mom as an infant and she loves to pour out motherly love to them, which she missed out on as a child.
Despite the love and care that she offers the children, my heart was moved (through a video that she shared) to see that her home environment was not ideal for young children from a safety perspective. The large pot that they were using to make soup was positioned on a gas burner on the floor. The box freezer was used as a surface to knead the vetkoek dough. There were also lots of electric cables hanging and lying all over this small space and the appliances kept tripping the electricity. The other problem was that the vibracrete wall around Lizzie’s house was leaning at a dangerous angle, and there were children playing on both sides of the wall.
I felt that something needed to be done and I appealed to my hiking group, who in turn also reached out to their contacts in the Durbanville community and we had a wonderful response.
With the funds collected we are able to do the following (which is in progress):
- Buy the materials to build a new wall with concrete blocks (a businessman paid a builder and the foundations were dug on 3 September 2024).
- We were able to restore furniture, paint the children’s beds, and stack them in a manner that’s safe and makes more space available.
- We put up rods and new curtains and they were blessed with duvet covers.
- The electric cables have been secured in a safe manner and a new electrical box was put in.
- A concrete slab is being built outside Lizzie’s front door so that she can operate the soup kitchen from the patio, with a counter for working space, and the gas burner and soup pot outside. This will also provide more space inside for the children and Lizzie.
It was precious to see how believers and non-believers sowed into this project, making a small difference in a community that needs all the help they can get. – Jolanda Venter
