Inspiring Stories from our Top Causes

At forgood, we are incredibly lucky to be privy to stories that both our Causes and Volunteers share with us. Story-telling is something that we would really love to do more of with our community because stories are important to share. They serve so many purposes: they guide, inspire and teach us about the world we live in and how to make sense of it all. To get to know our Causes a little better and to share more stories, we've been interviewing our Top Causes about what they do, why they do it and who it all impacts. When asked to share a story about a beneficiary - a person they helped that keeps them going, here is what three of our top Causes had to say.

Who is a person you helped, a person that keeps you going?

Readers R Learners A community based voluntary organisation that assists primary school learners on a one-on-one basis to read or improve their English reading.

"We had a young female learner (I will name her Jane) in grade three who could not read one word and spoke so softly you literally had to place your ear against her mouth to hear her speak. Her teacher was convinced that Jane had to go to remedial school. After a few months there was still no progress and in our RRL meetings we decided to step back, hoping a school psychologist and the schooling system would take over to map out her schooling future.

I decided to carry on with Jane because my feelings said I must, the something that speaks to you from inside your heart. Thank God we kept Jane in the program. One day on a weekend I was passing the local shopping area and heard a girl shout my name “hello uncle Cyril”, I looked around and it was Jane. I stopped and went over to greet her and her mother. Her mother thanked me for our work. I couldn’t hide my surprise at Jane’s confidence. The mother said that Jane is now reading to the family. At school Jane is now putting up her hand and participating in class. Jane use to walk with her head bowed, now she has a skip and a jump in her walk. This is 18 months later; Jane could have been lost to the system if we gave up on her."

Isiaiah 54An organisation that looks after abused, abandoned and HIV positive children of which are mostly babies.

"Little Miss M. We received a call from the police asking if we could please help with a little baby about eight months old. When they arrived with her she was filthy - dirty would be an understatement. She could not hold her head up she was so weak. She had sores everywhere. She had been left alone in a derelict house, hardly any roof and filth everywhere. A disgusting place for any little one to be found. We really battled to get her to eat, as well as get rid of the scabies and Natal sores that she had. Eventually, with the assistance of our private doctor, she started getting better only to find that she had something under her skin which you could actually see moving. This turned out to be sandworm, which was eating away at the fat cells under the skin. After seven different antibiotics, eight deworming sessions as well as R1700.00 worth of creams, we won the battle. During this time, she learned to sit, crawl and walk!

Slowly you could see the scars disappear. She was with us for 18 months before going up for adoption. Miss M now has a wonderful forever mother, a doctor, who absolutely adores her and is now living in Dubai."

7th Heaven Children's HavenA child and youth care centre, founded by Nelly Senong, that provides a loving and disciplined Christian home to children taken into care due to severe neglect and/or abuse.

"There are so many stories and lots of different emotions. However, to choose one, Nelly thinks of Blessing, a baby brought to her by the police when he was abandoned. A relative had left the baby when the mother went away. He afraid the very sickly baby would die in his care, so he left him at the police station. Nelly and 7th Heaven nursed, nurtured and loved this baby who is now a strong boy of 11, doing gymnastics and not afraid to try anything - even excelling at sewing classes! He has health problems, but copes well, and is managing at school thanks to assistance from J Bay Academy. "

If these stories have left you feeling inspired to do some good, then head over to forgood and find the Opportunity for you.

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