GALLERY: Brand new standalone cottage for St Mary’s

A FRESH start in a “new” home is what a few of the children of St Mary’s will be having soon as they learn to become independent and stand on their own two feet.

March 19 was an exciting day as a brand new standalone cottage was opened for a few of the children who live at the home.

Sonja Harmse, director of the children’s home, said: “As the children reach 18 years of age, ideally they should be able to find work and go out and take care of themselves. But in the real world, this is just not feasible. As they leave school, a few carry on with tertiary education and the others have to try and find work. We do our best to find companies who are willing to take on our children, teach them a trade and hopefully will then employ them. Sometimes this works out and the child can find his or her own accommodation, moving out and begin a new life. Often though a child can’t find work and how can we ask them to leave at such a crucial time in their life, shoving them out to face the world alone.

“The dilapidated laundry room, which was built in the 1920s, has not been in use for over a year now with each of the cottages having its own laundry facilities. We took a long hard look at it and wondered if it would be possible to renovate it. Thankfully, our friends and sponsors MFC (Motor Finance Corporation, Division of Nedbank) stepped in and undertook the mammoth task.

“Today as we stand here at the door of this new cottage, which will become home to six young adults shortly, we really have to give a huge thanks to MFC. Your willingness, dedication and kindness have been showered on St Mary’s over the past few years and St Mary’s glows from what you have achieved. Thank you from the bottom of our heart. Even though you don’t have us as your social responsibility anymore, you are always welcome to visit us,” Sonja said.

Sonja thanked everyone for taking time out of their busy days to attend the opening of the cottage.

“Special thanks to Lousia Engelbrecht, my PA, for being my right hand throughout all of the renovations and decorating of the cottage. You’ve been a star.”

Invited guests walked through the cottage, gasping at how beautiful it looked even though it had been done on a very strict budget.

“This is absolutely stunning,” said Tom and Bonny Lambe, friends of St Mary’s.

“I could move in here myself, it’s just perfect,” said Desirée Barnett.

The children who will be moving in will only be told at the end of this month.

“There’s lots of surmising going on at the moment to who will be transferred from their cottages to this new home. It’s a very exciting new project and we hope it’s going to play an important part in preparing our older children to become totally independent and ready to go out into the world,” Sonja added.

GALLERY:

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