2016

Spring 2016

In 2016, Sandra Zoetelief met Piet Seinen. The, at the time, 79 year old Piet told her about the by him started Foundation Imizamo Yethu and the projects supported by the foundation in South Africa. Piet cooperated with the Swiss-born Elke Zwicker who had already been living in South Africa for many years. Together they’d achieved good results. Piet considered it to be time to renew the board of the foundation.

November 2016

November 2016, Sandra and Sebastian went on holiday to South Africa and planned a meeting with Elke.

Al jaren is het Elke’s passie geweest om te vechten voor de rechten van kwetsbare kinderen en hun scholing.

In 2007, after having lived in Switzerland for more than 30 years, Hansruedi and Elke Zwicker decided to return to Cape Town to enjoy their well-deserved retirement in this beautiful part of the world.

Little did they realise how much poverty prevailed in the many townships around Cape Town, until Elke went on a guided tour through Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay, a suburb approximately 20 minutes from the city centre. Established in the early 1990’s, this shantytown is home to about 35‘000 mostly black people, living under the most shocking conditions and in great poverty.

Little Lambs Christian Daycare proved to be a ray of hope in this horrific environment. Founded in 1999 by Marlena and Johan van der Walt it caters for underprivileged children by taking them off the streets and looking after them in a loving and Christian way and offering pre-primary education. Elke decided to give back to the community by volunteering at the daycare and soon assisted in various aspects of running the daycare.

In 2009 she was asked to join the SEEDS Trust (Schooling, Education, Empowerment, Developments) of which Little Lambs is a project. Under Elke‘s supervision, the daycare underwent major renovations and now caters for 265 children and employs 23 staff.
Together with her friend Marlis Schaper, they approached various foreign corporate and private sponsors for the much needed financial support of Little Lambs.

As a Trustee of SEEDS, Elke visited Ark Angels Educare about 2 years ago. Her domestic employee’s children attended this daycare in the informal settlement of Overcome Heights/Seawinds in the southern suburbs of Cape Town. Once again, she was shocked by the poor living conditions, the high unemployment rate, the crime, alcohol and drug abuse which prevailed amongst the people living here.

Ark Angels Educare was founded in 2015 by Pastor Prosper who responded to the high demand for pre-primary education and childcare in Overcome Heights, by converting the corrugated iron shack, which accommodates the church on weekends, into a day care during school hours. Presently the shack is completely overcrowded, has no playground but lack of hygiene and storage and is not conducive to learning.
In order to accommodate 80 children, Marlis and Elke once again approached various corporate companies, private entities, and foundations to sponsor a new building for the children of Ark Angels. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, the greatest part of the required funding has been successfully collected. Fundraising was Elke’s major task and all effort is still being made to raise the outstanding balance before the building process can commence.

Gedurende de laatste twee jaar hebben dominee Prospers en Elke veel bereikt. Zijn taken omvatten de dagelijkse opvang en de spoedregistratie bij het Departement voor Sociale Ontwikkeling. Elke benaderde de verschillende ministeries voor hun steun, behandelde alle zaken met betrekking tot de planning van het nieuwe gebouw en deed er alles aan om mensen geïnteresseerd te krijgen. 

Elke’s biggest concerns have always been children living in poverty, as they are extremely vulnerable, discriminated and isolated in their community. Monetary poverty is closely connected to poor health and wellbeing, as well as to limited access to nutrition, healthcare services and safe environment but worst of all is the lack of opportunity in early childhood education.

Ark Angels Educare will be another milestone in responding to the high demand for pre-primary education and childcare all under the patronage of the SEEDS Trust.

December 2016

In December 2016, Sandra and Sebastian returned to the Netherlands from South Africa. The stories made an impression on them. upon return in the Netherlands, Sandra and Sebastian decided to start the foundation Little Superheroes.

Little Superheroes foundation commit itself to take care of the little superheroes in Southern Africa, because every child deserves healthy nutruition, care and education for a better future.