Have you met Jess? If you have, you have been blessed. She is a gem. Jess walked into my life at about the same time that Charlie did and I have loved every moment I have spent with her since. Jess also has a green heart. She works at The Sustainability Institute in Stellenbosch in South Africa (the PERFECT job for her) and she brought me with her to photograph one of the events on the site. It was the kickoff for a new program called Changes Youth - Sustainability Institute aftercare.

Words from the Institute:

2 ½ years ago saw the beginning, with 18 boys, of the Changes youth group. Only 5 of those had present fathers, 3 being alcoholics. After visiting the local Stellenbosch prison, the boys chose the youth club name - from the famous Tupak song - and to symbolize the changes they would like make in their own lives.

12th April saw the beginning of Changes 4.0 - i.e. 83 mainly farm worker children between the ages of 6 and 16 arriving after school for lunch.Great vegetarian Farm to Fork food, grown by Eric, our organic farmer, or here in the Lynedoch gardens. (Not one child has asked where the meat is, and some have gone for seconds and thirds!) Then on to homework, karate, drama, soccer, gardening, drumming, games and remedial work if necessary.

This is purely voluntary - and there were bitter complaints yesterday when the bus arrived too early to take some children home. They wanted to stay later. There are more children arriving each day to ask to join - the Institute is bursting. Everywhere we look there is a child, just the way it should be.

The end of the day meant cake! The kids loved it and there were smiles all around. If you are interested in making a donation feel free to contact me Sara@SaraAtkinsPhotography.com and I can get contact information for you. We have thought of a few activities that would be great to fund, maybe a beach day for the kids. Many of them have never seen the ocean despite being just about half an hour away from it! Something like this would not cost much and would be wonderful for the kids. No pressure, just something to think about.