Jahara donates to more than 700 children
Reece Jewell and Bret Hyde, counselor trainees of Jahara Rehabilitation Centre in Kampersrus together with The House of Righteousness church, Heal Ministries, and surrounding farmers came together to donate food and clothes to the underprivileged children in The Oaks and Finale.
“At Jahara there is an outreach that we have where we go out to ask for help in donations and choose a number of organisations in the villages who could select needy children so that we could be able to give those donations. It is all about giving back to the community. The last time there was an outreach was in 2019 when they went to Mozambique,” explains Hyde. Hyde says that this outreach program was halted during the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“After Covid-19’s restrictions ended we started with counselling and we realised that there were people who needed our help out there and that it was time that we went to communities to try and help them in any way we could. As part of our training, we decided that it would be good if we got involved with the community,” said Hyde. He said that they decided to find a remote community in Maruleng that they could try and help.
“After some of the residents here at Jahara went to the HALO outreach in The Oaks, they said that there was a soccer match where they saw children playing barefoot. That is when we decided that the outreach would start at The Oaks and Finale,” he added. Fellow counselor trainee, Jewell said that they reached out to a pastor in Hoedspruit about their proposal who later connected him with the pastor of The House of Righteousness, Bernard Ntloana who introduced them to the chief and also helped with donations.
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“I had a meeting with Bernard and we told him who we are, and what we are about, and he was immediately on board and supported our idea,” says Jewell. “We had a challenge when collecting the donations. There was a stage when we saw that we had a lot of food and that we needed books, and halfway to Johannesburg, to go and pick up some donations, we received a call that stated that they had 400 books that we could come and pick up,” he said. “We received more donations heading toward the day of the outreach, and before we knew it, we had a lot of donations for the outreach,” he said.
The team from Jahara decided to help paint the centres, rebuild the fences and do anything that they can do to improve the state of the centres in the communities. Pastor Bernard Ntloana said that he really appreciates what Jahara has done for his community and hopes that it will be a long-term project. “They really are helping the communities, and through that, they get to also learn and grow as individuals. This is the relationship that I hope will grow into something good, and by God’s grace it will,” he said. Anyone interested in helping Jahara with donations for this outreach initiative can contact Jewell at 064 052 3154 or Jahara Rehabilitation Centre at 065 891 0502.
