Cape Town - In an attempt to prevent more women and children from being abused and killed by their loved ones, the Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp foundation is appealing for more people to support the organisation.
Reeva was murdered by her boyfriend, Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, in his home on Valentine’s Day in 2013.
The foundation was started in 2015 by Reeva’s mother, June Steenkamp, to continue Reeva’s work of prevention and raising awareness of abuse of women and children.
At a breakfast on Saturday, organised by the foundation, June said she would never get over the death of her daughter.
“Something like this stays with you until the day you die. We will never get over this. We miss her every day. She was such a big part of our lives and the way she died was so tragic and horrible that you can’t get that out of your mind. I think this event is just a celebration of what she wanted us to do against the abuse of women and children.”
She said with it being Mother’s Day the family missed her even more.
“Her life was taken away. She will never have children. She will never have her wedding. She will never finish her brilliant career.
“How can you get over something like that? So much was taken away from her - violently. We need to have a bigger stand against this type of violence.”
She said the aim of the foundation was to try to protect women and children from abuse.
“We are going to do our best to protect women so this won’t happen."
Reeva’s cousin, Kim Martin, the foundation’s chief executive, said the organisation's aim was to be “Reeva’s voice and legacy”.
“We aim to do this through education and empowerment.”
She said the organisation has domestic violence packs - or Reeva packs - it hands out at schools, hospitals, police stations and shelters.
“It provides abused women with all the necessary tools and helps them to get out of abusive relationships. It empowers them to make that decision to leave. We also have a bursary we grant every year to a fourth- or final-year law student who is focusing on family law.”
The foundation offers legal advice and representation, which is the focus of a pilot project running in Port Elizabeth. It hopes to bring the project to Cape Town.
The organisation’s long-term goal is to open a safe house.
For more information visit www.reevasteenkampfoundation.org