Rainbow Nation home shelters children with love

TO say that having children is life-changing would be an understatement for Rensia Martin, who runs her very own ‘rainbow nation’ from her Bluff home.

The Rainbow Nation Care Centre is an NPO that was born from Rensia’s abundant love for children.

“It all started when my family and I moved down here from Johannesburg and I had a burning desire to do something positive for the community. I was inspired to start my own daycare centre and after speaking to my husband, Lucas, who has always supported my love for children, I put the word out that I am starting a daycare.”

“The response was very good. I started off with three children and then one day, a woman approached me asking that I look after her three-month-old baby for the day while she went for a job interview, which I did gladly. She returned two years later and said she didn’t get the job. At that time I had already begun the process of adopting the child. She didn’t contest this and allowed me to adopt. That was the beginning of this centre which today runs as a children’s home for abandoned children as well as a day care centre,” shared an emotional Rensia.

She works closely with child welfare, where she first started out as a crisis parent but now has an arrangement to live with the children until they reach the age of 18.

“We are one big happy family that live together peacefully. My children are my life, I would do absolutely anything for them,” she said.

She currently has six children in her care as well as the many that come in daily for daycare.

Rensia works tirelessly to provide the best care to her children from taking care of their basic needs to filling the gap of the motherly love that they have been robbed of. Although the work she fuels her passion, Rensia is a pensioner and often falls on hard times.

“It is by the grace of God that we are able to get through each month and welcome every little bit sponsorship or support that we are blessed with.”

Her pleas were recently met by The Good Samaritan Project which is an initiative started by Daryl Govender, who is on the mission to uplift the community.

“I started the Good Samaritan Project at the beginning of this year in honour of my late mother, Pastor Charmaine Govender. The project is an initiative aimed at reaching out to people, local businesses and the community to help those in need, such as Rensia. I was pleasantly surprised that she had been creating hope for children for over 25 years. She is such a blessed soul, willing to help even while in a state of need.

Daryl has committed to supporting Rensia by spreading the word of the amazing work she does throughout the community, in an appeal to get the public on board to assist her in creating brighter futures for the children of the Rainbow Nation Care Centre.

The centre requires assistance in the form of food donations and funds towards the hefty electricity, water and rent bills.

The centre’s baking details are:

Account Name: Rainbow Nation Care Centre

Bank: Absa

Account Number: 408-949-2450

Branch Code: 632005

Account Type: Cheque

For more information contact Rensia Martin on 060-857-2327 or Daryl Govender on 066-214-7714 or visit The Good Samaritan Project’s Facebook page.

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