LOVE LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING was founded by Alette Marais and her family in 2020 with a passion for community transformation. A few months later she approached Ethnos Movement International NPC (EMI) (www.ethosmi.org) and then joined hands with Louria Schoeman. These two iron-women truly have hearts of gold and they know how to love deeply and unconditionally. They are fully involved in the project on a daily basis and rely on the help of volunteers. Golden Valley (in Blanco, George) is a community ravished with many challenges like alcohol abuse, unemployment, illegitimate & abandoned children, verbal & physical abuse, drug abuse, animal neglect, poverty, lack of education ... to name just a few! These are the needs we have identified as most crucial:
CHILDREN (about 650 children)
These children are deprived of the most valuable thing life can offer ... LOVE & SECURITY! Many of the children live on the streets. We provide them with clothing, nutritional cookies and first aid care where needed. Most importantly we pray for them. Our main aim is to love them and make them feel worthy! SCHOOL PROJECT
We work in cooperation with the local schools to try and offer the children an education and get them off the streets. We also provide school stationary, -uniforms, -shoes, -bags, transport and in some cases extra tutoring lessons when required. KANGAROO PROJECT
We have identified the children in the community that are the most vulnerable and really require extra assistance, love and care. Volunteers act as a mentor and take a child under their wings and provide in his/her needs from clothing to outings. Mentors are required to commit to a journey with the chosen child for a minimum of 12 months to ensure a consistent positive influence, to build trust and rebuilt healthy foundations in each child. NUTRITIONAL COOKIES
We provide the malnourished children with 6 highly nutritional cookies weekly. These cookies are scientifically engineered for malnourished children. For some of these children this is the only nutritional "meal" they get on a daily basis. CHRISTMAS PROJECT (ages 3 - 14)
Every year we hand out Christmas gifts and host a small party for the children of the community to make them feel extra special and loved. Last year we were able to spoil 400 children. This year we aim to put smiles on 650 little faces. ELDERLY
We have about 50 pensioners that we assist with food parcels and prayer. Sometimes we assist with transport to the clinic and home affairs and help with maintenance if needed. SOUP KITCHEN (weekdays)
Our soup kitchen provides a warm nutritional bowl of soup to about 600 - 700 individuals on a weekly basis (children & elderly). We have recently expanded our soup kitchen and hope to assist even more people with a nutritional meal. CLOTHING & OTHER ITEMS
Whenever we receive donations of clothing, household items, carpets, furniture, etc we distribute these to the elderly and children. ANIMAL CARE
We provide food and water to about 50 dogs and cats 2 - 3 times per week. Through feeding the animals we are able to build relationships with the owners and other community members. It also gives us access to their homes to identify any other problems that need attention and where we might need to involve social services. The pet-owners are re-educated by our volunteers to care for their pets. If any problems or animal abuse is identified the SPCA is involved to assist. We have a great need for dog food, puppy food, cat food, collars, leashes, blankets, pillows and kennels. PRAYER WALKS
Once a week we do a prayer walk through the community and pray as the Holy Spirit leads us. We pray with the members of the community, many have shared their testimonies of salvation and answered prayers. BIBLE STUDY
Once a week a few of the women attend our bible study. Through the bible study hope is restored, relationships strengthened with God & family members and new friendships are established. ADULT UPLIFTMENT PROGRAM
We offer craft classes, informational talks and movie nights mostly for the women in the community. Through the craft classes we are bonding with these women on a deeper level and help them to discover their self-worth. We would love to offer more programs, but we are limited by the available facilities and resources. COMMUNITY CENTRE
We are in desperate need of a facility where we can expand our ministry. We trust that the Lord will provide the perfect location and facilities in due time. Our main aim is to provide a creche for the toddlers, after care for the school children and a youth centre. We want to be able to offer bible studies, teach new skills, offer counselling, provide creative workshops, animal care training, family counselling and various upliftment programs for the children and adults of the community. Through these facilities we can provide holistic healing to the members of this broken society. WANT TO GET INVOLVED - AREAS WHERE WE NEED ASSISTANCE:
* Volunteers to assist in the different areas of the ministry
* Mentors for our Kangaroo Project
* Financial support
* Prayer support
* Skills development volunteers
* Donations of clothing, shoes, household items, craft supplies, etc
* Donations of school supplies - stationary, shoes, rain jackets, uniforms, bags
* Weekly donations of dog food, puppy food, cat food, dog blankets & pillows, collars & leashes
* Sponsors for our nutritional cookies
* Sponsors for our yearly Christmas Project
* Sponsors for outings, outreaches and upliftment programs
* Sponsors for land, facilities and building supplies
Together we can do great things!!! Please FOLLOW & SHARE our page to show us your support!
