Madam –
Raphah is known to the Newcastle community as a halfway house and/or shelter. Even though this is true, Raphah consists of many divisions and/or ministries within the Raphah umbrella of which the halfway house facility is only one of many services provided.
Over the last eight years of existence, Raphah (pronounced as Ra-Fa) (meaning “healing”) has grown into a full-scale service provider on many levels – especially under the poverty-stricken communities in their capacity to uplift, heal, feed, empower, and educate. Raphah’s services are not solely to the benefit of the poor, but as a service provider helping the whole of Newcastle on all levels and spheres.
Raphah has a wide range of outreach programmes and initiatives, which includes food, food parcels, soup kitchens and bread. Raphah is thus proud to announce to have distributed more than 500 – 700 loaves of bread, including buns, rolls, cake, and more, to the community of Newcastle and surrounding areas for the period 2011 – 2015.
The bread was distributed in the following areas:
– Newcastle – municipal houses
– Newcastle – railway houses
– Street children
– Homeless (under bridges, alleys, etc.)
– Poverty-stricken families
– Feeding schemes (welfare, churches, private, schools etc.)
– Other care facilities
– Townships such as Madadeni, oSizweni, Blaauwbosch, Fairleigh, Siyahala-la etc.
Our greatest gratitude and appreciation to the local bakeries that sponsored and/or donated their damaged bread – to enable us to feed Newcastle all these years.
Pastor Gerd and Sonja Luus
