Welcome to The Cooper Street Project, Swellendam, South Africa
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Children in this very poor community are being fed on a daily basis from a private house in Cooper Street, by Cynthia Tobias. Conditions in the community are very bad and most houses do not have running water. There is very little electricity – candles are used which are particularly dangerous, and there is no heating. Children are being born and growing up in these towns and they know no other life.
Cynthia welcomes these children into her home with open arms, most children come from backgrounds where they may not get a meal each day so here they can seek refuge, play as children should play, they each receive nice hot meal and they just love it here.
We think Cynthia herself deserves a medal.
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January 2025
We have made big strides in re-housing the families into the new Railton Housing Project which is part of the integrated Residential Development Programme. The first two families actually obtained their keys on 9th December 2024. They are absolutely delighted. One of the families - Linn and Joseph actually received a double-storey house, which is more than we could have dreamt of (they are the parents of John, Joseph, Jocelyn and Jolin). It's small, but it's theirs and they now have running water and electricity. They've never had this before!!
Lucinda and her brother also received the keys to their single storey house on the same day. How lovely - they moved in on that very same day.
Jo-Anne's parents also received their keys just a few days later. They were all able to move in before Christmas, what a fantastic Christmas present.
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On our Photos page 2024 are pictures of our visit and the new houses.
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August 2020
A current major problem in South Africa is the supply of Electricity. Investment in the productivity of electric over the years has been underfunded, leaving a system which cannot cope. Eskom the supplier is having to have outages, cutting off power for various regions sometimes for hours. No light no cooking facilities etc. This has meant that Cynthia has had problems cooking for the children. Well we have helped by funding the purchase of a wood fired stove. The children collect wood and Cynthia cooks on the stove. It really does get cold in Swellendam in winter and this is already helping significantly not just for cooking but helping keep the children warm.
Welcome to The Cooper Street Project, Swellendam, South Africa
Children in this very poor community are being fed on a daily basis from a private house in Cooper Street, by Cynthia Tobias. Conditions in the community are very bad and most houses do not have running water. There is very little electricity – candles are used which are particularly dangerous, and there is no heating. Children are being born and growing up in these towns and they know no other life.
Cynthia welcomes these children into her home with open arms, most children come from backgrounds where they may not get a meal each day so here they can seek refuge, play as children should play, they each receive nice hot meal and they just love it here.
We think Cynthia herself deserves a medal.
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