Bringing miracles

A remarkable non-profit, public benefit organisation is doing incredible work in Mandeni and surrounding areas.
The Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard provides a comprehensive system of care to poor and needy people in wider Mandeni in a number of different ways.
Founded in 1992 in the chapel of a priest’s house with the aim of empowering people to help themselves, the Brotherhood is now 2 500 members strong.
An association of the Roman Catholic Church and the Relief Organisation of the Order of Malta in South Africa, the brotherhood runs a hospice with the largest inpatient unit in South Africa, as well as facilitating home care with mobile units.
Father Gérard, the German missionary who founded the Brotherhood, is an extraordinarily warm and gentle man, with an energetic disposition and a genuine smile that brightens the room.
“When I came here to preach and saw how people were living, I decided to help them,” he said, spreading his hands, “you cannot preach to people who are starving.”
According to Father Gérard, many people are dying of neglect in the area.
“We want to show them that there is somebody there for them,” he said.
In addition to palliative care, the Brotherhood operates an HIV/AIDS education programme, an AIDS treatment programme, a malnutrition clinic, a poor-sick fund, a relief fund, a children’s home, a pre-primary school and crèche, a bursary fund for gifted children from poor backgrounds and a disaster relief project.
The Brotherhood even has therapeutic therapy counsellors who move around as part of the AIDS treatment programme making sure people are taking their medication regularly.
“We do not tell people what to believe, everybody is welcome here, regardless of their beliefs. We provide care, free of charge.”
The Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard carries out its work relying solely on donations. For more information, or to find out how you can help, visit their website at bbg.malteser-internet.de/en.