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Registered as a Non Profit Company (NPC) in South Africa.
Registration Number: 2014/007443/08
Building a better world, one house at a time!
"It is more blessed to give than to receive."
The Greater Blessing Program
Watch our slideshow on work done during the GREATER BLESSING PROGRAM, in Cape Town, South Africa.
Listen to Sarah Meyer being interviewed by
the CEO of FCHWC
The Greater Blessing Program started in Bonteheuwel, Cape Town, RSA, in December, 2014.
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” – Acts 20:35
Overview: The Greater Blessing Program encourages beneficiaries of lower-cost home repairs or renovations to repay that cost over time on terms they can afford, without a mortgage. Payments are made monthly, providing the beneficiary the opportunity of experiencing the greater blessing of giving, not just receiving.
Jesus taught that it is more blessed to give than to receive. He did not say that receiving was wrong, but that giving was more blessed.
Our repair/renovation work is done at a relatively low cost. We use The Greater Blessing Program, using our local volunteers in Cape Town, South Africa, to do the repairs and through which the cost of the repair is repaid as a donation back to the Program.
These payments will be used to make repairs and build new homes for other families in the Western Cape, South Africa.
In December, 2014, we started to implement the Greater Blessing Program to THREE Homes in Bonteheuwel.
We completed TWO, by the 20th December, 2014, and we are in the process of completing the THIRD one by the end of January, 2015.
We have opted to do only repairs to existing houses in 2014-15, because we do not have the resources to start our building program. TWO MAJOR challenges in Cape Town, are, the availability of land to build new houses, and the second challenge is the rising cost of building materials.
We have concentrated on the following repairs at these THREE homes: Repairing and replacing faulty and worn wiring and equipment like lights and wall plugs; replacing old distribution boxes with new ones; replacing faulty circuit breakers..
Most homes in Bonteheuwel, Cape Town, are between 30 to 50 years old, and are in a bad state of disrepair.Most homes do not have the modern earth leakage circuit breakers, which could prevent fires caused by and electrical short.
Another problem is current overload; many homes are operating several appliances linked to a circuit with a single 30amp circuit breaker; as a result, the overloads cause the continuous tripping of the 30 amp circuit breaker. In cases where the switch is faulty, it causes the wires to overheat, and in some cases, a fire is caused.
Lance Meyer, a sixteen year old volunteer, who has been trained as an Electrician's assistant, replacing a wall plug in Bonteheuwel, Cape Town, RSA.
Ernie Fisher, a young trained Electrician's assistant drilling holes to install a wall plug.
Most of our work to the homes in Bonteheuwel in December, 2014, consisted of improving the appearance of the home, by painting the walls inside as well as outside.
The redecoration of homes were enjoyed by ALL our volunteers, from 10 years old to 63. Everyone who could hold a brush, lent a hand. A few members in the community were recruited while the work was in progress.
One of the most important jobs that had to be done before the painting was done, was the preparation of the painting surfaces. All outside walls were washed with a high pressure washer.
All inside surfaces were washed with a special stain remorver and the loose paint were scraped away.
Many of the tools, like the high pressure washer and scrapers , were not bought or hired, but were lent by volunteers of Fuller Housing Western Cape.
The outside walls of the THREE were particularly badly affected with loose paint everywhere, and they had to be thoroughly washed and scraped before we could start the repainting of the walls.
