Dear Friends of Golden Sunbeams
It’s time once again to say a heartfelt THANK YOU – to all the many sponsors, supporters, patrons and volunteers who accompany and support Golden Sunbeams.
In recent weeks and months, we have often reported on major construction projects or – as in the last newsletter – on the reconstruction efforts following the arson attack on our Bright Future ECD centre in Asanda Village township. We have completely rebuilt it, and only the wooden cabinets are still missing; these will be installed soon. But the babies and children have already been able to return to their two classrooms.
But the many small projects are just as important: they often take place quietly, help the children very concretely in their everyday lives and thus achieve great things.
Thanks to your support, several of our ECD centres were able to plan and carry out excursions with their children before the Christmas holidays. Loflands Day-Care, from the Rusthof township, invited all its children to the Water World water park in Strand on the last day of school.
Great fun, joyful laughter and a refreshing change – thanks to June, our principal, the children were able to experience all of this together shortly before the Christmas holidays.
And even during the Christmas holidays, many of our sponsored children had a fun time. For example, Dita and Jörn-Erik Fröhlich invited their sponsored children to the aquarium in Cape Town and afterwards to the big wheel at the Waterfront.
During the Christmas holidays, many godparents surprised their children with special gifts – including Joshua and Quaid. One is a big rugby fan, the other loves playing football. It wasn’t difficult to fulfill their wishes. Now the two can be seen taking turns running around the pitch together: one day with a rugby ball, the next playing football.
We, the children, the principal and teachers from the Free to Grow ECD centre in Macassar, would like to express our sincere thanks to Sabine Braun, Heidi Schabert (1st and 2nd from the left) and Thomas Braun and Christian Schabert (1st and 2nd from the right), who sponsored many stationery boxes.
Belinda Meintjies, the principal could hardly believe her luck when, shortly before the holidays, all the pencils, colouring-in pencils, crayons, felt-tip pens, writing and drawing pads, rulers, and much more were delivered to her school. The joy and relief were great, because now she could start teaching carefree at the beginning of the new year and with great school equipment for the children.
Not to be forgotten are the many school requirements and uniforms that were provided for our sponsored children at the beginning of the new year. We are grateful that many patrons also support the children financially – some even accompany them personally on shopping trips. It’s a special experience for everyone: together, they not only choose the new school requirements, but the children are also treated to lunch.
Furthermore, a visit to the mall holds many little adventures in store – sometimes a ride on the escalator is enough to bring a radiant smile to the childrens’ faces.
So, at the start of the school year, our sponsored children were not only able to proudly wear their new school uniforms, but their families were also noticeably relieved, as we were able to cover the school fees due at the beginning of the year for all of them.
A very heartfelt thank you goes out once again this year to the Fisch family from Germany. As in previous years, they have supported our work with beautiful childrens’ clothing and lovingly stuffed animals. When we distributed the gifts in our ECD centres, they were received with shining eyes, joyful amazement, and great gratitude.
A big thank you also goes to Julina Borg, who has been actively supporting our Covenant Kids ECD centre as a volunteer since the beginning of the year. We think it’s fantastic that you had the courage to travel to South Africa alone to get involved in social work here.
We would love to invite you to send us your suggestions for topics that particularly interest you and which you would like to learn more about in one of our newsletters. Please don’t hesitate to email us at
While you in Europe are hopefully soon welcoming the first signs of spring, we are enjoying the very hot summer days in South Africa.
Warm regards.
Yours,
Britta & Claudia