By Louise | Managing Director
As I was reflecting on what to share this week, I thought about the impact the kids have made on my life over the last 22yrs. I came here semi-fresh from Australia, I say semi-fresh because I had worked for a year in a government clinic in 2000, so I was not totally naïve. Anyway, I came as an Australian International Volunteer, a bit life the Peace Corp but a lot less support.
I started work at another NGO, and was asked to do something to help the kids who the home based care givers had identified as their biggest heart ache. The caregivers watched the orphan and vulnerable children get in to drugs, gangs, alcohol, teenage pregnancy, drop out of school, get infected with HIV and basically hijack their futures.
After starting the bones of Keep The Dream196 in 2023 the rest is basically history. However, the kids that we support, the life stories that they have shared, the insurmountable odds they have overcome, keep me humbled! I have been asked numerous times WHY? Why have I chosen to move to South Africa, when lets face it, most of South Africa is trying to move elsewhere, especially to Australia.
The answer is simple, God called me here, the children have kept me here. I am overwhelmed by their stories and their tenacity. The perseverance we have been able to build into these kids is amazing against such odds that others would have crumbled. The official teenage suicide rate is 12.9% however there are many other deaths that have an unknown cause according to the Bureau of Statistics in South Africa.
As we walk this journey with the kids, some for over 22yrs, I continue to be amazed at the power of this program and the gift of love and hope you enable us to give through your support. Some of the kids must overcome traumatic events such as rape, statutory rape, incest, and child abuse in all its ugly forms.
But these kids don’t just survive, they don’t just drift aimlessly through life, because of you we are able to provide real, tangible, loving support in ways that these kids need. We are able to keep them engaged and strengthen them through counselling and support as well as a sense of family. We are able help them navigate their emotions and channel those feelings into constructive outcomes.
On the weekend I asked one of our kids who sadly had been raped what was the one thing she was taking away from her time with us, her comment, “You taught me to Survive! I can Survive anything! I am stronger than I ever thought possible”. That is what you enable us to do, I said last week that you bring hope, this is what that hope does to a child who has been beaten down by the world. This is why I keep doing what I am doing. If we don’t allow the kids to give up, how can I!
Please continue to give hope to the women and children we serve, you are making a huge difference.
Blessings
Louise
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By Louise | Managing Director
By Louise | Managing Director
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