10 years of laughter, tears, caring, heartache, teamwork, worry, support & so much love!HOLAH started off with 1 child, to love, care for and give everything we could until they were reunited or adopted.
In 1 little cottage, no carers and a lot to learn. Fast forward 10 years and we have cared for over 150 children!Currently, we have 12 little ones across 2 cottages. 1 for our babies & toddlers & 1 for our special needs children, we are situated on a beautiful homestead where the kids thrive, surrounded by a menagerie of animals, an incredible team of caregivers& an abundance of love.BOP, our outreach project, started by helping crèches in umlazi with food & learning tools. A project that had humble beginnings but has grown into something much bigger and so very needed.Since living in Crestholme & after the devastation of the KZN looting and double flooding, BOP has reached a new level of outreach and in turn support.We have set up 5 cooking stations with different “Gogos” in the community of Molweni & Madameni. They are able to cook meals daily for the families, especially children, in areas around them. We offer them ongoing assistance to do so. During the floods 25 of the people living in these communities lost absolutely everything, through BOP we were able to get them out of the community hall they were living in & into brand new wooden cottages.We continue to find new areas and people to help through different ways such as donating second-hand clothes for them to sell & start their own businesses. Food drop-offs and emotional support for those struggling. We couldn’t have done any of this without the amazing support of friends and donors.Our Vikela baby saver which we set up on the boundary wall of the charity hop shop as a safe place for mothers to surrender their babies safely & anonymously has proven to be life-changing. We have had 2 precious souls dropped off in the saver & are now in the planning stages of setting up our second baby saver in Molweni. Our Vikeka project has also encouraged many mothers and families to contact us to find out what options they have if they feel they can’t look after their baby and started important conversations in that regard.Our Charity hop shop was one of the best things we have done in the last 10 years! What started as a small stall at Golden hours market selling goods to subsidise HOLAH & our projects, has grown enormously. We now run our hop shop from a beautiful space in Glenwood. We sell anything and everything & provide employment to several staff members with learning challenges. We are looking at a second hop shop in the upper highway area so what has this space!These are just a few highlights of the progress made these last 10 years with YOUR help!Here is to the incredible people we have met along the way, to all the support & love we have received to make it possible & to the incredible staff at HOLAH & charity hop shop who are doing this job because they love what they do & want to make a difference in the life of every child in our care.Most of all, to all the little people we have loved & looked after, each of you will always have a special place in our heart. |
