Help Bev Provide a Safe Home for Vulnerable Kids

In 2012, I had the incredible fortune of meeting Bev, an absolute Earth Angel who, at the time was working as a cleaning lady for a friend of mine in Cape Town. If you've ever been there, I'm sure that you will agree that Cape Town is one of the most stunning places on the planet. But it is also a horribly segregated city that sits side-by-side with communities deeply deprived of dignity as a result of forced removal to the so-called 'Cape Flats' during the Apartheid regime. An unacceptable number of people living on the Flats suffer intergenerational trauma resulting from systematic abuse that began centuries ago and is now perpetuated both within and outside the home. The results are heartbreaking, including widespread fetal alcohol syndrome, child rape, low levels of literacy and drug abuse.

I learned that, in addition to being a single mother raising three children of her own while commuting from the Flats to Cape Town each morning taking three buses and 2 hours each way each day to earn minimum wage, Bev took care of TEN children of drug-dependent parents living on her street who, on a daily basis, suffered the most awful neglect and, in many cases, inexcusable emotional and physical abuse. She fed and clothed them, and above all showed them they were worthy of love. I was lucky enough to spend time with them, including one beautiful Christmas Day cooking and eating together and a 'day out' at the Cape town Waterfront (none of them had ever left the Flats let alone seen the ocean).

Moving around the world and juggling my own kiddos' medical issues meant that I didn't get the chance to see our new family on the Flats for many years. But we had the chance for a tear-filled reunion with this past February. They have grown and have the basics, but are really not thriving and, more than anything, are not safe or nourished.

Bev is now retired but makes a bit of money from collecting bottles for recycling, which gives her about $200 a month in income. Despite this, she has taken in three of the children, Nadira, Hope and Mujaid, to live in her small home (just a few weeks ago, we were able to bring in two of the most vulnerable girls from, frankly, horrific conditions just by buying two mattresses to allow them to sleep in Bev's half-finished garage, instead of on the floor of their mother's abusive ex-boyfriend's house). But the other seven sleep on floors in the homes of grandparents, friends and sometimes on the street.

This fundraiser aims to extend Bev's house and make space for the other seven--who are desperate to move in--to have a safe, warm and loving home. The reality is that they are a family bound by horrific experiences but also by love for each other, and helping them live in one place that they can truly call home would be a blessing. We would furnish the rooms, add a bathroom, buy kitchen items and shoes, clothes and school books.

Nothing can be done to change what they have experienced, but we can help set them up for a much better chance in life (statistically, without this, they'll end up as teen mothers or be lured into gangs or drugs, which just perpetuates a cycle of hell not of their making) in the years ahead.

As I am not in Cape Town, this is all I can do from afar. If you feel moved to support, anything you can contribute would be amazing and, I promise, will make a world of difference! I am arranging for someone trustworthy to oversee the construction and can assure you that every cent of the monies will be used to help Bev in her role as the extraordinary mother that she is to these beautiful young people.