A decade of changing the lives of needy families

Alta Botes started a feeding project, preschool and counsels victims of sexual abuse free of charge.

Alta Botes started a feeding project, preschool and counsels victims of sexual abuse free of charge.

Published Feb 7, 2017

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Pretoria – “We can’t help everyone, but for those who cross our path, we can make sure to bring some relief.”

Alta Botes started Warm Heart Feeding Projects 10 years ago. She quit her day job, she said, because she felt called upon to start this organisation that would help needy families in Pretoria.

What started as a weekly feeding scheme has since expanded to include a preschool, Little Hearts ELC, and counselling for victims of sexual abuse.

“Emotionally it’s exhausting but God gives us strength every day. But it’s not all sad stories here,” said Botes, of the project based in Derdepoort.

“There are also families who, after a bit of help and training, can face life again and ensure a better future for themselves and their children.”

The project serves about 130 needy families in the Derdepoort and Kameeldrift areas, plus several orphans – without any funding from the state.

Botes tells a heartbreaking tale of one of the parental counselling sessions she led. The theme was, Pray and you will receive.

A woman spoke up: “I sit at the table and I close my eyes to pray for bread. But when I open my eyes there is no bread on the table. So how should we pray?”

“It hurts to know I can go home at night and then there is someone who doesn’t even have bread to feed her children,” said Botes.

That was why she started the feeding scheme. From that, grew the preschool.

“We did a survey on how many children weren’t getting an education, wore the same clothes every day, went to bed hungry. So we decided to hire a house and create a safe haven for the children.”

That is how Little Hearts ELC was born. It started, she said, with five children.

Now there are 60 children, aged 1 to 6. They get three meals a day. “For some of them it’s the only meal they get all day.”

But the need is ever-present. “We learnt that weekends were also a problem – that there was no food for some of the kids at home over weekends, and then they get to school hungry on Mondays."

“So we started to make food parcels for the kids which we sent home with them on Fridays to make sure they get fed. We also provide for the parents where there is a need for food.”

They have a full-time staff member to prepare the meals. Every day the kids get starch, meat and two vegetables.

Of course, man shall not live by bread alone, as the Bible says. “There are children who are being emotionally and sexually abused at home. It is so important to educate these children in a safe environment. They have a haven where they can speak out and ask for help – and know that something will be done about their problems. For everyone of us at the preschool it is very important to keep these kids safe and to give them a foundation from where they can build a school career.”

At least 45 of the children from the preschool have gone on to Grade R and Grade 1, she said. “They’re doing very well at school and they still visit the preschool when there is a problem at home, which is a very good sign that they still feel safe here and that there is some help we can still give them.”

Botes and her team do still more. They also work with clinics and social welfare workers to make sure that the kids are healthy – they get their vaccinations and vitamins.

At Warm Heart Feeding Projects and Little Hearts preschool there will never be a last supper, said Botes, “because God always provides.”

Even so, they do need the help of ordinary Pretorians: donations of food and clothes are always welcome.

Pretoria News

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