Hunting Dragons teamed up with Niklaus Boll to deliver the Fix a House project. The idea was to reach out to squatters in Sir Lowry’s Village that are old or sick and try and improve their living arrangements. Niklaus managed to raise R41,000 from a Catholic church in Switzerland. With this money, we were able to re-house five families in dwellings that are far more appropriate for living, and able to withstand the harsh Western Cape winter wind and rain. At the same time, we were able to create a few short term jobs for local residents. It has been humbling to see the gratitude and joy in the way that these families have made these simple houses into their homes.
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| Nicholas’s rebuilt home | Paul’s old shack & new house – old shack had to be demolished |
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| Freek’s shack | Construction of Paul’s new house |
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| Sakkie’s new place |
We have tried to make community involvement and upliftment a cornerstone of our lives, and contribute through active involvement in; both our church’s, Loreto Early Learning Centre (a pre school for 80+ children in a disadvantaged area); and the Helderberg Street People’s Association (an association that amongst other things runs two soup kitchens feeding about 600 people a day in the Helderberg - www.helderbergstreetpeople.co.za).
One of the ventures that we thoroughly enjoy is the building of wooden jungle gyms at crèches. The last four have been in Browns Farm in Philiphi including Sakhingomso Education Centre, Makukhanye Education Centre, Noluthando Education Centre, and Noncedo Education Centre. These crèches belong to an organisation called SAEP (South African Education & Environment Project - www.saep.org) who do some fantastic work amongst the youth in impoverished areas.
The Fix a House Project was successful enough in the donors eyes that almost 4 times the original donation was pledged in 2011 to continue the good work. As a result Nik and Mark formed a Voluntary Association called Better Life Organisation with the mission to improve the lives of the poor who have no ability to improve their own lives. We now work with a team of rehabilitated drug addicts who have been through a skills development program in the art of building Wendy houses.
Our first 4 families have been identified and work will commence shortly to change their lives!
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| Sakhingomso’s new jungle gym | Makukhanye new jungle gym with apprentice |
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| Makukhanye’ principal (Nomahobe, on right), Brad, Mark, and children | Sakhingomso’s principal (Phelisa), and Brad |