Dear Friends of Golden Sunbeams
For the last four years, we have reported on and off about the twins Liam and Liza and their friend Nazeem.
A quick look back: At the kindergarten anniversary celebration “20 Years of Helderberg Golden Sunbeam” in March 2018, two little boys stood sadly beyond the fence and watched the happy goings-on. Among the guests was Jörn-Erik Fröhlich, one of our long-time supporters, who discovered the boys and spontaneously invited them. After he heard their sad story from us – both mothers were single parents, jobless and penniless – he and his wife Dita also spontaneously decided to sponsor the kindergarten fees for both boys from now on.
When it turned out that Liam had a twin sister – Liza – Jörn-Erik’s brother Klaus-Detlev and his wife Beatrix agreed to pay the kindergarten fees for the little lady.
If you would like to read all of this again:
Liza and Liam’s mother was able to go back to work immediately because her children were now taken care of. She was pleased that the two of them had the prospect of a successful education and thus a more secure future. Things weren’t going so well for Nazeem and his mother. His mother took mind-altering substances, became dependent on them and repeatedly relapsed. Since she was only able to care for her son part of the time, Nazeem grew up mostly with his grandmother until she moved.
Beautiful memory: In 2019, Dita and Jörn-Erik celebrated Liza and Liam’s birthday together with their friend Nazeem and the children’s mothers in the Helderberg Golden Sunbeams kindergarten.
The kindergarten time flew by and the three of them started school together in January 2020 at the Primary school, which is right next to the kindergarten. And the twins grew up to be bright, happy and self-confident schoolchildren.
Our sponsorship usually ends as soon as the children leave kindergarten and begin school. Nevertheless, we also invite our former godchildren to our traditional Christmas party every year.
Dita, Beatrix, Jörn-Erik and Klaus-Detlev Fröhlich still felt emotionally connected and continued to generously support the children through Golden Sunbeams. The children also received support after they started school, for example by covering the costs of school uniforms. Often there was a cake or a gift for a birthday.
The former kindergarten teachers from Helderberg Golden Sunbeam were responsible for all these little surprises – they always gave the children great joy. Out of gratitude and affection, the children still enjoy visiting their former kindergarten today.
Unfortunately, Nazeem’s development had not been very positive and his behaviour towards classmates at school was quite aggressive at times, resulting in him being expelled from school.
In December 2022, we were shocked at how emaciated and unkempt Nazeem looked. Jörn-Erik Fröhlich, who was in South Africa at the time and was able to take part in our Christmas party, was also very concerned when he saw little Nazeem and immediately offered us his financial support.
One of his former kindergarten teachers told us afterwards that he was sometimes locked up at home and not given food. Because of this, she obtained permission from the children’s welfare organisation so that Nazeem could at least spend Christmas with her.
Nazeem trusts his former kindergarten teacher who takes care of him as much as she can. She has four children herself and the youngest is in second grade with Nazeem.
Nazeem now lives with his aunt, who also lives in very poor circumstances and unfortunately cannot always provide the children with enough food. As a result, Nazeem has become extremely thin.
As Nazeem’s birthday approached, we asked his former kindergarten teacher what Nazeem needed most. It turned out that he no longer had a school uniform because he had grown out of it. He only had the clothes he wore.
So we bought a complete school uniform: grey shorts and long pants, a blue shirt and
and a grey tank top, grey socks, black shoes and some casual clothing and other shoes.
Since Nazeem has been wearing a school uniform again, his self-confidence and self-esteem have increased and this has a positive effect on his behaviour towards teachers and classmates.
At our request and thanks to the support of the Fröhlich’s, we were even able to organise a small birthday party for Nazeem. He was very happy and had a great appetite.
“Clothes make people” – but as we all know, they don’t fill us up! So we came up with a plan: one of Nazeem’s classmates will now go to school in the morning with two lunch boxes, one of which is for Nazeem. He also receives a hot meal for lunch every day after school from his former kindergarten teacher and, if he wants to, he is also welcome to eat there on the weekend.
We hope that this “arrangement” will be accepted by all parties, including Nazeem’s mother and aunt. We’ll see how long we can support the boy on his life’s journey with this measure. We hope to be able to show you photos of a well-fed and happy Nazeem again soon.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our godparents once again for their support and encouragement of their godchildren. For us, the education, socialisation and care of children in the kindergartens and pre-schools in the townships are especially important and are a pre-requisite for equal opportunities and a promising and secure future.
And sometimes the commitment of our sponsors goes far beyond kindergarten and pre-school, and we think that’s wonderful!
Warm greetings from the Cape of Good Hope
Yours
Britta & Bernd