Being in the business of love and kindness, Valentine’s Day is one of our most favourite days of the year. We are seeing a more conscious-minded approach to love and lots of sharing and caring, with self-love and one-love shining through in the true sense of ubuntu.
This week we had two special visits to our community beneficiary organisations and it is a pleasure to share these heartfelt stories with you, our supporters. To see faces of the ECD Principals light up when we arrive, keeps reminding us why we do this, as their hardships are real.
Little Star was our first stop and when we arrived Sindiswe was sitting alone outside her small ECD Centre contemplating life. You see on top of Sindi losing her son three years ago, her husband who was her rock and the love of her life, passed away suddenly in November last year. When she turned her head to see us arriving everything in her lit up. She stood up smiling uncontrollably and just hugged us. All her problems just fell away. This is the power of love – Ladles of Love, as with your help we can touch peoples’ lives with love, dignity and respect. We touch Sindi’s life every day in a positive way, as she can focus on teaching and caring because we are providing her with food to feed all her children every day.
Sitting on the floor, the little kids all gravitated around me smiling, laughing and were completely intrigued as I put up both my hands out. They soon started slapping my hands and doing high fives! Their laughs and giggles from something so simple was incredible. It reminded me of the joy and gratitude that comes from the simple things in life. These kids are playing happily because their tummies are full after a delicious lunch.
We dragged ourselves away from Little Star as we were on a mission to drop off a two burner boiling table at Hope Of Africa (ECD) donated by a very kind Welsh woman. Yolanda Jones our programme director, chose this beneficiary because their stove was literally on its last legs and how it was still functioning tells me one thing – God was keeping it going, knowing a new one was on the way! I share this story with you because the joy in principal administrator David November, came from deep within his soul. His eyes lit up, his smile was beaming and he lifted both his arms to the heavens as if to say: “Thank you God.”
We all get so caught up in our lives. We get caught up in our work. We forget why we do what we do to help others. We forget that we are in a place that many people are not. We are in a place that can make the lives of others, just a little bit easier. We are in a place that we can keep hope alive. We are in a place where we can share LOVE in a world that often feels very dark.
Let’s remember how blessed we are to have Ladles of Love in our lives – allowing you, me and WE to be in service to others in the most beautiful way.
We invite you to invest in a child or children via our Love Books campaign. A monthly donation of R250 sponsors one little one with healthy daily meals and a book to read. For happy children, love is… feeding and reading time.
NB: As financial year end approaches, don’t forget any donation over R500 qualifies for an 18A Tax Certificate with means you can deduct the donation amount from your taxable income.
With our LOVE and gratitude to YOU ♥️
Danny & the entire team at Ladles of Love
