A huge thank you to the St Vincent de Paul Society in Rosebank that have donated a second-hand car to Women of Vision. Truly our prayers have been answered!
Our new Mazda Etude, after sitting in a garage for over a year, started after about 15 minutes of charging and besides a little ding on the side mirror, it is in wonderful condition. SVDP have also agreed to pay for the costs of re-registering the car in the name of Women of Vision.
This car not only belonged to a wonderful man called Peter Jackson, it was used to do charity work while he was still alive and it is our mission to keep his memory alive and use the car for charity work only.
A little about Peter Jackson (1936 – 2008)
Peter was a member of the Rosebank Society of Saint Vincent de Paul and he committed his life to doing charity work. He joined up with some nuns and parishioners from Rosebank Parish to venture into Diepsloot to give extra Maths and Science lessons to children after school. Together with some of the youth of the parish he also got involved in visiting orphans once a month and giving them swimming lessons. He also “adopted” a family being cared for by their “gogo” as both parents had passed on and he was instrumental in getting the SVDP to supply the family with a monthly food pack which continues to this day. He assisted her in getting an RDP house in Cosmos City and many other needs for the children. Under the “Peter Jackson” project, a house was purchased in Diepsloot with the aim of housing 6 orphans and a crèche, under the guidance of qualified house mothers and social workers. Peter’s extra lessons would also be held at the house.
In 2008, Peter was brutally murdered. His family, in an effort to uphold his memory, insisted on the car being used to help those in Diepsloot, specifically at the crèche. This project continued for couple of years. Sadly funding diminished as many families were unable to pay crèche fees, there were no guarantees of being able to supply food and cleaning materials and there was no money to pay for the staff. The project came to an end and the car was parked and almost forgotten. The lady in whose garage the car was parked in, asked Rosebank SVDP to help place the vehicle with a deserving cause. Since SVDP have been assisting Women of Vision over the last couple of months and the our work is similar to that of Peter’s dream, it was unanimously decided the car would be donated to Women of Vision.
We are so privilege and humbled that we were selected as recipients of this car and extend our sincerest gratitude to SVDP Rosebank for their most generous donation. We will ensure that this vehicle will be used for the purpose that it is intended for – to bring a little hope to the vulnerable!