Facing a life-threatening illness could cause some to wallow in the despair of uncertainty. However, this was not an option for Stephan Ferreira who chose, instead, to make a difference with whatever time he had left.
Diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia in 2013, Stephan set up several initiatives to spread as much goodwill as he could muster. While simultaneously receiving chemotherapy, Stephan arranged events for local old age homes and ran collections for shelters for animals and homeless people, and rape-victim support centres.
A feeding scheme was also put in place to provide nourishment for impoverished children. Starting with 55 children the project has swelled to feed almost 1 000 children weekly. It is a mammoth task and Stephan is lucky to have the assistance of 35 local women who donate their time in exchange for a food parcel of their own.
The feeding scheme includes an activity centre for children. “The first plan was to create a safe environment where children could participate in various supervised activities instead of just roaming the dangerous streets without direction or purpose,” explained Stephan. “We now have weekly clubs for knitting, soccer, netball, arts and crafts, chess and even dancing to keep the children busy,” he added.
Ensuring the children are aware of the footprint they leave behind, a recycling awareness campaign was launched by which the children could earn sweets by collecting plastic bottles. Through the children’s enthusiasm this evolved into their receiving toys and stationery too. Under the Charity Begins With Me banner, Stephan has morphed an ongoing personal crisis into a holistic community project promoting environmental awareness and filling young, hungry stomachs.
