Dear Friends of Golden Sunbeams
Great Beginning, our kindergarten in the Asanda Village township, run by the hard-working Naomi Malebo, has been hit by burglaries and thefts like none other.
Since 2020 we have supported Naomi in the gradual expansion of her kindergarten with the aim of obtaining official government approval so that she is entitled to state funding. But…
…even before the start of our first construction project in 2020, equipment was stolen from the kitchen during a burglary. So, before doing anything else, we first built a wall with a large gate to reduce the risk of further burglaries.
In March 2020, just before the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, the wall and gate were “ready for use”. After all the planned repair and conversion work on the outside and inside initially came to a complete standstill, it was resumed after the long lockdown and eventually it was finalised.
And then, in November 2021, something happened that we had not thought possible: the gate we installed in 2020 was stolen at dead of night.
After weighing up all the costs and risks, we recommended to our principal, Naomi, that the wall on both sides be extended and only a small entrance gate should be installed. We feared that a new big gate would be stolen again soon.
Naomi thought about it a lot and ultimately decided against our suggestion:
She wanted to replace the stolen gate with a large gate again.
Since we did not consider this decision to be sustainable and therefore did not finance it, Naomi installed an old, not fully functional entrance gate at her own expense.
We use the donations and subsidies entrusted to us according to clear rules, and sustainable use plays a very important role. For this reason we sometimes have to turn down requests – as in the case of Naomi. Through our many years of work in the townships, we have developed a feeling for which projects can be implemented sustainably and which can not be.
In our Newsletter #46 from January 22, 2023, we reported how happily and confidently Naomi started the new year – after so many necessary repairs and renovations and finally with her new, beautiful, functional kitchen.
In July, while we were still cleaning up the damage caused by the flooding in our kindergartens, we received the news: the old gate, which was not working properly, had also been stolen. After this additional theft, Naomi too, was convinced about our proposal: smaller gate, wider wall.
No sooner said than done! We sent our workers to Great Beginning in early July – the wall has now been extended and the new small entrance gate has been installed.
Speaking of flooding, there was an additional area in Naomi’s building where the floor didn’t consist of concrete. It had bare soil. You can imagine what happened next. The extreme rainfall meant that the water couldn’t drain away and got into the office. So we quickly poured a concrete floor to prevent this problem arising again when it rains heavily.
Now all the damage has been repaired, and the children can enjoy playing outside without any worries.
The best message was the one we received from Naomi afterwards: “We feel safe again!”.
With this in mind, we wish you a beautiful August and send warm greetings from South Africa.
Yours
Britta & Bernd
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BERND FOR HIS 85TH BIRTHDAY!!!
Bernd Holtkamp built his first kindergarten “Helderberg Golden Sunbeams” in the township of Macassar in 1995, laying the foundation for today’s Golden Sunbeams e.V. Since then, Bernd has dedicated his life to our charitable work and is an important part of the 15 kindergartens we look after today. Wherever he appears – the children and kindergarten teachers love and admire him for what he has built here. The man with the colourful shirts celebrated his 85th birthday on July 29, 2023! We congratulate him heartily and wish him happiness and health in the new year as well as new exciting projects!