St Martin’s Children’s Home founder dies
For many years, Sr Xavier Pohl ran the home on a shoe-string budget.
Sister Xavier Pohl (77) the founder of St Martin’s Children’s Home in the Oribi area, died and was laid to rest last week in the grounds of the children’s home to which she had devoted most of her life.
She had suffered ill health for a number of years and had grown progressively more frail.
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Born Marianne Gerda Pohl, in Berlin, Germany in 1940, Sr Xavier came to South Africa in 1963 to fulfil what she saw as her life’s mission, which was to care for needy children in Africa.
Soon after arriving here she established the children’s home on a bare stretch of veld in the Oribi area. Over the years, she reached out to help and protect so many poor and vulnerable children.
She named her children’s home St Martin’s and for many years, ran it on faith, love and a shoestring budget, with very little government assistance. In spite of its limited resources, the home always seemed to have elastic walls. Sr Xavier could never turn away a child in need.
Eventually the home changed its name to St Martin’s Youth Centre, then to Inathi Child and Youth Centre and it entered a new, more formal, structured era, with a management board and a contingent of well-qualified staff taking over its running. Even after her official retirement. Sr Xavier kept in touch with the children until ill health slowly caused her to withdraw her involvement.
Sadly, for the last few years of her life, deteriorating health meant that she had less and less to do with the running of the children’s home that had been her life’s work and her passion for so many years.
The legacy of this formidable, determined, caring and dedicated woman lives on. Many successful adults bear witness to the love and care they received when they were growing up under her wing and, while St Martin’s might have changed its name, its spirit remains the same. It is still a home, in the true sense of the word, for the many young people in its care.
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