Good Morning Angels Festive: Helping abused and neglected children from Roodepoort

BACKGROUND: Being a parent is not an easy job … Now imagine being a parent to more than 30 children aged between newborn and 18, at any given time. That’s the reality chosen by Abbey Brandes from the St Laurence Children’s Haven in Roodepoort. They provide more than a bed and food for the children from abused, neglected and abandoned backgrounds in their care - they provide a family, stability and love. Many of the children who cross their doorstep are in poor health and some of them have special needs. Abbey says that it often happens that the children overeat in the first few weeks, as they are not used to having access to regular,  healthy meals. 

Dr Erika Cuyler and the team at a clinic near St. Laurence Haven often treat children from the home and they know how expensive the correct treatment can be. They’ve decided to start a medical fund for the children of St Laurence, to take proper medication and care more accessible to these children. They reached out to Good Morning Angels to help

REQUEST FOR: Abbey Brandes on behalf of the 33 children from St. Laurence Children's Haven

REQUEST FROM: Dr. Erika Cuyler from Nu Prime Clinic

ANGEL: Bonnie Cooper on behalf of our fabulous festive sponsors, Roman's Pizza

SPONSORING: Roman's Pizza will donate R35 000 towards creating a medical fund for the treatment and medical needs of the children from St. Laurence Children’s Haven.

ORIGINAL REQUEST: Good morning

We represent a medical clinic in Constantia Kloof in Johannesburg, Nu Prime clinic.

We assist a home for abused and neglected children, St. Laurence Children's home. This house of safety is situated in Discovery Roodepoort. It was established in 2001 and is privately owned. It currently houses 37 children ranging in age from 1-18 years

We assist medically where we can with medication and medical care but the need for more medical care is huge but the financial burden is too big to cater to this need.

There is an 8-year-old HIV + child that receives his medication in Germiston. They have to queue for the whole morning for him to receive his meds. They draw monitoring blood but the results are so delayed they only receive it 3 months later. His sister has Prader Willie syndrome and a congenital Leptin deficiency. Meaning she is always hungry. She steals the children's food at school and eats dog food to satisfy her hunger. This girl is 11 years old and weighs 90 kg. She needs a paediatric consult to be formally diagnosed and offered treatment. There is also a 3-year-old with hallucinations of unknown origin that needs urgent further investigation. 

The need at this home is however not only medical. There are siblings 14 and 18 with no birth certificates or ID as of yet.

We want to open a "medical care account" for this house and any sponsorship financially or otherwise will be greatly appreciated.

We are eagerly awaiting your reply.

Kind Regards,

Erika Cuyler