John, Joslyn, Joseph and Jolan desperately need a new, safer home!

John, Joslyn, Joseph and Jolan are four siblings from The Cooper Street Project which was formed by a fantastic lady called Cynthia Tobias. The conditions in their home are very bad they do not have running water, heating or electricity – candles are used which are particularly dangerous.

We have supported the Cooper Street Project for many years but on a recent visit to the project in Swellendam, South Africa, one young man particularly tugged at our heartstrings (they all did but John is trying really hard.... we'll work with the others later). John is 15 years old and, despite his living conditions, his mother and father are very keen to make sure he and his siblings are well educated. The children are looked after as well as they can and they all look so neat and tidy. Alll credit goes to their parents in these conditions (and, of course, Cynthia). How John has turned into such a lovely well turned out young man, coming from these conditions, is nothing short of a miracle. He wants the same for his brothers and sisters so is leading by example.

Cynthia helps all the children and John with their homework after school (John cannot complete his homework at home in the dark). John is now in danger of his home conditions affecting his future education. We have known him for 8 years and his English has come on leaps and bounds (more than we can say for our Afrikaan). He is doing so well and we really are keen to help keep him on the straight and narrow. After many years on the Township Housing waiting list John’s family were eventually offered a lovely concrete Township Home in the Township of Railton, Swellendam which does have the luxury of running water and electricity. Unfortunately, to qualify for one of these houses they needed a one-off payment of approximately ZAR 5000 (£325), they didn't have it.

They could have gone from this.......

.......... to one of these:-

if they had just had the ZAR 5,000 needed (£325). BUT they had to turn it down because they could not raise this one-off payment. It’s a desperate situation for the family and heart breaking to see. They are still at the top of the waiting list and we have heard that more concrete houses are expected to be built sometime this year.

We have pledged to help John and his family raise the one-off payment needed plus a little extra to, hopefully, buy some bunk beds (there are 4 children as well as Mum and Dad) and maybe a little furniture - it's a one bedroom house. When Cynthia told the family we had pledged to raise this money, the whole family just burst into tears. This is just life changing for them .

Thanks for taking the time to visit our Just Giving page.

PLEASE....if you can afford to donate even the smallest amount - it will help us achieve our goal and lead John and his family on the pathway to a much better life. We will put an update on our website – The Cooper Street Project .

Thank you.