Good Morning Angels

At only three months old, baby Aylah Botha has been hospitalised with Meningitis, COVID-19, and breathing difficulty, and, recently, her parents received the diagnosis that their baby has two life-threatening holes in her heart.

Baby Aylah Botha from Pretoria is three months old today. She is her mom Jua-Rike and dad JJ’s first little bundle of joy. Like most new parents, they counted the weeks to her birth with love and excitement.

Everything went so well, although she had some infant jaundice, which is very common in newborns, and then she got ill.

At three weeks of age, she was in hospital with Meningitis, COVID-19, and breathing difficulties.

She constantly struggles with her immune system and oxygen levels, and then her parents got the diagnosis that her heart had two holes, causing her little body to work harder to perform normal functions.

Initially, it was hoped that the holes would close, but now, they have become life-threatening and baby Aylah will have to undergo heart surgery within the next month, as soon as her weight picks up a little more than the four kilograms she currently weighs.

Mom Jua-Rike has been by her side all along and cannot return to work as a hairdresser. Dad JJ works to keep the family going and to afford their medical aid.

Even though they have medical cover, they have to pay 25% of the bill before she is operated on. With their medical aid already depleted and their co-payment projected to be over R100,000, friends and family have rallied around this young family and reached out to Good Morning Angels for assistance. GMA webpage

Aniya Holder is a talented speed climber on her way to this year's Olympics in Paris!

Aniya Holder, 22, from Gqeberha has only recently realised that she has an extraordinary talent for speed climbing! She can "run-crawl" up a 15-meter wall in 11-point-33 seconds!

She's been doing other wall climbing disciplines, bouldering and lead, since she was 14, but two major injuries: broken fingers in 2021 and an elbow injury in 2022, put an end to it. Her coach then suggested she try speed climbing... and she's never looked back.

Her knack for scaling a wall at a very fast pace lead her to the South African National and African Continental speed climbing championships.

She qualified for the Olympic Games in December last year and it has taken over her life!

She prepares for the games in her hometown, where she works at a small Bouldering Gym with a six-meter high wall as a route setter, coach, and hold shaper. She's also an artist - but this has moved to the back burner in recent months.

There is only one 15-meter Olympic standard wall in South Africa and that's in Johannesburg. Aniya travels between the Eastern Cape and Gauteng by bus, whenever she can afford it, to train on the kind of wall that she will be facing in Paris.

READ: Lending a helping hand for children with special needs

She also has to fund her plane ticket to Paris and everything else she needs to represent South Africa from her own pocket.

Aniya has never been overseas and her mode of transport at home is a bicycle - so this can all be very overwhelming, but her friend has started a fundraising page and she's going full steam to achieve her goal of making it to the Olympic podium in Paris and to making her country proud.

REQUEST FOR: Aniya Holder

ANGEL: Everest Wealth, represented by Lundi Coetzee

SPONSORING: Everest Wealth want to support Aniya on her road to Paris in 2024. They will sponsor her flights to and from Johannesburg for training sessions leading up to the Olympic Games. They will also cover her flights to and from Paris and some spending money, with a total sponsorship of R100,000! GMA webpage

Good Morning Angels assisted the Green Leaves Centre with R50,000 towards a trampoline, equipment and other needs to improve the lives of the special children in their care. GMA webpage

Good Morning Angles will assist the Blouberg Donkey Care Workers Initiative with a donation of R70,000 toward their spaza shop and invaluable work in the community.

The Blouberg District is an area in rural Limpopo. The nearest "big" town is Bochum, some 100 kilometres northwest of Polokwane.

In the ten villages in this area, members of the Bahanawa tribe live a simple life, with donkeys their main means of every day transport of people and goods. Donkeys are a vital part of the community's existence and perform essential tasks without which the community cannot do.

Three years ago, veterinarians Dr Isabel Meyer, Prof Leanne Scott and Dr Quixi Sonntag recognised the need for healthcare services for the working donkeys of the Blouberg community.

They established a non-profit organisation to train and support community members to provide essential health services for their animals. They trained 20 community members as Donkey Care Workers (DCWs) to help with the health and care needs of the working donkeys in the area and supplement their own income. The DCWs have so far assisted with the care of over 1130 donkeys.

To further the project, they are in dire need of a spaza-shop structure or container that can be used to supply animal health care products as well as basic supplies to the villagers. That’s why a colleague of dr Isabel wrote to Good Morning Angels for assistance.

For more on the project visit: www.bloubergdonkeys.co.za Read more here · GMA webpage

Good Morning Angels assisted the Van Dyk Park CPI with R25,000 towards their medical kits and other community service projects.

Communities across the country have been mobilising themselves against crime over the past years in the form of Community Policing Forums or Initiatives. There are currently over 300 registered CPIs, made up of volunteers and which are fully self-funded. One of these is the Van Dyk Park CPI, between Boksburg and Brakpan on the East Rand.

The 20 patrollers volunteer their time, skills, and own resources to serve their community of around two thousand households as first responders in all manner of crises, from crime to injuries, electricity issues, and vehicle crashes.

The Van Dyk Park CPI was started some eight years ago when incidents of crime became overwhelming and the local police resources just could not cope.

On their own steam and with the support from residents, the CPI has, over the years, set up a control room, cameras in hotspots like areas where cables are regularly stolen, 400 radios in different homes and community concerns, bought a tractor to cut their own sidewalks and public lawns, and they have 20 patrollers who "patrol the streets at night and during the day… we help the community in need, we have a WhatsApp group for emergencies, from crime to anything.”

They also assist the residents in the old age home, take food parcels to residents in need, and assist the authorities with crime prevention and traffic control after vehicle accidents.

CPI committee member Alida Jordaan has been involved for the past six years. She says their patrollers are often the first responders at medical emergencies: “Many of our residents do not have medical aid, and they cannot afford private ambulance services. To wait for state services can take up to six hours, and quick action can be the difference between life and death."

For this reason, eight of their patrollers have received First Aid Training, which was sponsored, but now they need medical kits that could cost up to R4,000 each. That’s why community member Charlene Kotze wrote to Good Morning Angels. GMA webpage

The Good Morning Angels Fund will get the ball rolling with a contribution of R100,000 towards Charlette Jackson's medical treatment.

Durell Barnett, 39, is a hardworking chef, dad to eight-year-old Declan, and son of 68-year-old Charlette Jackson. This, in short, is who and what he lives for.

Charlette lives with Durell and Declan, as he has been caring for his mom for many years. Durell is a single dad to Declan, so the three of them are a happy and loving little family.

In the middle of January this year, Charlette was diagnosed with cancer in her throat. She has a cancerous growth near her main artery that needs to be removed as it is life-threatening.

The family does not have medical aid and they were advised against going to the State Hospital, due to the urgency and severity of the situation.

After the surgery, Charlette needs to receive radiation, after which the doctor believes she would have a better than 70% chance to heal completely.

The projected cost of the treatment is a whopping R500,000, which Durell and his mom simply cannot afford.

Durell sold his car to afford the initial scans and to make a start. His friends and colleagues jumped into action and in the space of a few weeks, were able to raise an amazing R315,000!

Charlette is going into theatre on Wednesday for surgery to remove the cancerous growth before it breaches the artery in her throat.

They are still R185,000 short of the full treatment, and that’s why they reached out to Good Morning Angels. GMA webpage

The Willard Batteries Bursary Fund will assist Kayla with R70,000 towards her 2024 third-year studies at NWU. #GoodMorningAngels GMA webpage

Good Morning Angels and Willard Batteries assisted teen mom Laai'qah to achieve her dreams of education, inspired by her baby son and parents. GMA webpage

On the first Good Morning Angels New Year's Edition of 2024 the Willard Batteries Bursary Fund assisted Nazree with R30,000 towards her 2024 post-graduate studies at NWU in Curriculum Design. GMA webpage

Roman’s Pizza and Good Morning Angels assisted Bernice with R40,000 towards her hearing aids, to enable her to pursue her teaching and music career! GMA webpage