This week we highlight Ladies of Hope. Ladies of Hope is a Non-Governmental Organisation centre for social development, transformation and capacity building for impoverished community within the society system and class of South Africa.

Myrtle is a self-proclaimed business woman who started her own business doing consultancy. After a while she realised that God had other plans for her. “Every Wednesday I would visit these ladies around the community and I would notice that a lot of the woman did not take regular care of themselves.”

Myrtle then started a pray group where she would give advice to woman in particular to guide them on the correct path. While she would conduct her visits to the homes in the community she then also picked up on the tough conditions people lived in, and she wanted to make a difference.  

I then met a representative from HPCA, and I explained to her what ladies of hope do in the communities that we serve and how we look after people. She then gave Myrtle advice on how to become a member of HPCA – it was a real journey but one that was well worth the effort as eventually ladies of hope became a member.

The organisation was found in 2000 by a group of interdenominational individuals, out of an unreserved burden and keen sense of responsibility by mostly disadvantage areas of the nation.

Ladies of Hope is a true care centre where people of all ages, gender and religion find someone to listen, support and strength to guide, counsel, protect and provide the various needs of people living within the community with the support of other professional stakeholders.

Some highlights for Myrtle

·        All in all been around for 17 years, first with the pray group and then in 2007 started the NGO (Ladies of hope), and that’s been around for 10 years

·        The smile on people’s faces when we would deliver breakfast meals free of charge

·        The response from the community, the community chats, it’s all really encouraging and keeps her going

Challenges

·        To get funding for the three main projects they have going;

·        Drug centre

·        In patient unit

·        Food scheme

To find out more about the team and projects at Ladies of hope, click here.