KNYSNA NEWS - Lorna Mfene, the wife a former Knysna mayor, has started raising funds in the United Kingdom for the Dorothy Broster Children's Home in Khayalethu.
She launched a fundraising drive for her charity, In Her Shoes, on the fundraising platform GoFundMe, about four weeks ago, and said the proceeds would be given to the home in Knysna.
Mfene, a professional nurse who has been working in the UK for 20 years, and her daughter, Yandile (24), who has an accounting degree from the University of Birmingham, started In Her Shoes together.
"We were inspired to start the charity by my late mother (of Maletswai - previously Aliwal North - in the Eastern Cape) and my late mother-in-law (of Knysna). They were hard-working women, and they would help anybody, anytime," Mfene said.
She lives in the city of Leicester, and presently works at a hospital in the county of Devon.
Before moving to the UK, Mfene lived in Khayalethu, where she and her husband, Themba - the mayor of Knysna from 1995 to 1996 - still have a home.
"When I was in Knysna, the Dorothy Broster Children's Home was next to the clinic where I was working, and I used to be in contact with the children (from the home) when they came to the clinic," Mfene said.
New building
The funds raised on GoFundMe would go towards erecting a building at the children's home, an orphanage, and helping to provide services to the children there.
"Some of the children need psycho-social support, and physical support - and they (home administrators) need a new building. They want to accommodate about 100 children. They have about 40 (children) at the moment.
"We are asking people to support the GoFundMe fundraising drive - it is open to everybody, including people in South Africa."
She aimed to initially raise £2 000
(R46 430) for the home.
Alissa Henderson, the manager of Knysna Child Welfare, which oversees operations at the home, said "it takes a community to run a children's home, so anyone who helps us - we greatly appreciate that".
To raise her profile as a fundraiser, Mfene has entered the Mrs/Miss Africa, UK, Ireland pageant, which focused on "community-building and women empowerment" and had been running for five years.
Entrants were women with African backgrounds who were involved in charities, and last year's winner, crowned queen, visited projects aimed at assisting children in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mauritius.
Home glow
This year's queen, and 1st and 2nd princesses, would be selected at a gala event in Manchester, England on 14 September.
Mfene said she and her husband planned to some day return to Knysna.
On living in the UK, she said: "It's okay with education, raising children (her son, Xhanti, 26, is studying law in the UK) and it's much safer than South Africa - (however) the weather is rubbish. When I'm home (in Knysna), after a few days my complexion changes, and I start to glow."
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