Y.A.P.S were at it again - on the 5th of June we visited the Suid Afrikaanse Vroue Federasie (SAVF) a home of abused woman and children.

The sun was up high and the spirits of the Y.A.P.S committee were as well. We travelled down towards Carletonville a place most people in Johannesburg have never heard of. But for many of us it reminded us of home with the site of mine dumps and the occasion Mine shaft.

But for many the SAVF is a sanctuary where families come when they have nowhere else to go. We were given a tour of the premises and were really moved by these warm hearted occupants - that even in times of hardship they had always a smile on their face.

Y.A.P.S would like to think that we added an additional ray of sunshine in the lives of these families’ by delivering a few well needed toiletries, clothing items and other necessities that we had been collecting over the 40 day Easter period.

SAVF is a place where people can be empowered to get themselves back on their feet. SAVF have initiated a number of different outreach programmes but do find it difficult to sustain as these families need to find their own means and alternative solutions after a six month period resulting in the families having to move out and these outreach programmes do lose steam. They also encourage and arrange for the men to participate in odd jobs either as car guards or to carry out community peace jobs so that they can earn an income to support their families.

The trip to SAVF taught us that one must be grateful for what we have and that our parents had made many sacrifices to get us to where we are. If Y.A.P.S can make a small difference it will go a long way that one day we pray that if we were in the same situation that there will be people in our lives that would be there for us.

Many thanks must go to Trevor and SAVF for allowing us to get an idea of what SAVF’s contribution to the Carletonville community is and the occupants of this organisation to allow us to get a glimpse of their daily living. Thanks must also go to everyone that contributed to the donations and who attended this outing, without all of you none of this would have been possible.

Every small contribution makes a difference and we do hope that we can get larger sponsors going forward to make an even greater contribution to people who need it most.

Beijinhos

Y.A.P.S Executive Comittee