Celebrating women making a difference

DURING Women’s Month, Leanne Lorrance and Kim Brown, known from HOLAH (House of Love and Hope) Baby House and Glenwood’s Charity Hop Shop shop, are celebrating their journey as women and as co-founders of the NPO Likhon iThemba.

These are two women with a dream, drive and passion for doing better and for doing more.

“When we started thinking about Women’s Month and hearing some of the stories about a woman in power and why we celebrate Woman’s Month, we had the realisation that we are those women! We are the women that started with a dream, not much money, our loved ones questioning if we would be strong enough to cope and no real experience. The odds were stacked up against us. But we had the passion, the drive and the will to make a difference,” said Kim.

The women said they remember so clearly sitting at the kitchen table at a friend’s house in England about 11 years ago, plotting out how they would return to South Africa and run a home for children that had no families.

“At that point, it was a dream that we would have loved to have seen become a reality, but at the back of our minds knowing, like a lot of dreams, you write them down, and nothing ever comes of them,” said Kim.

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Kim’s dream goes back even further than that day 11 years ago. She was adopted, as were her siblings.

“My family loved me and looked after me – ‘as if they were born to you’ – which is what it says on the adoption certificate. From being a little girl and seeing the world around me and the terrible life some children have, I have always wanted to be able to give back and help others. I wanted to show my appreciation to my biological family, for giving me a better life than they feel they could have given me, and to my adopted family for embracing me as I am, and loving me as if I was born to them,” she said.

Leanne goes back to her early teens. She remembers seeing adverts from Save The Children on TV and knowing then that she wanted to go to Africa and help children that have no one.

She always knew she was going to adopt as a first choice, and that is how she wanted to build her own family.

“When I first visited South Africa with Kim 11 years ago, I remembered feeling such sadness for all the poverty and knew then that if we were going to live here, then we had to do something,” said Leanne.

After helping a little girl who was abandoned, the women realised that setting up a children’s home on their own with no money was not a realistic reality.

They had to look at things differently and had to start small, so the idea was to help one child at a time.

“It all sounds good in theory, but when you start and you open your heart and your home, you realise the need is so massive. One child at a time becomes tough to do. Before we knew it there were three, then four then six. Our life was turned upside down, but we knew this is what we needed to be doing. There were and still are a lot of challenges but the rewards completely out the way those challenges,” said Kim.

“When we started this journey of Likhon iThemba (meaning – there is hope), we never would have dreamed that we would be able to succeed in helping so many children and families. We would never have thought the organisation would have grown the way it has, and we would have branched off into so many different avenues.”

But nine years later, the registered NPO has had over 60 children in its care at HOLAH – some returned to biological families, others adopted locally and internationally.

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“We have supported and helped countless families and people less fortunate, set up a baby saver and opened our very own charity shop! We employ 15 staff between HOLAH and Hop Shop. The biggest part of our success story is adopting three of our own beautiful and precious children. It’s just the two of us on the ground with the amazing support of our Board. We do a bit of everything within Likhon iThemba and are very hands-on with the kids, the Hop Shop, and going into communities to help. Of course, we have phenomenal support, and this has helped us to get where we are today,” said Kim.

The women are very proud of how far they have come, and are grateful to their Board members that keep them grounded and motivated and their friends who believe in them.

“We still have so much love, and passion for giving and the next chapter in this story is going to be the biggest and most exciting chapter of all! We have some huge changes happening soon and we cannot wait to share the news,” said Kim.

Follow Likhon iThemba on Facebook. To donate To Likhon iThemba, contact Kim on 083 232 5501.