Sally’s Place
Circuit Project for 2010 to 2012
At a circuit meeting on 15th June 2010, “Sally’s Place” was chosen as the Circuit Project for the two years 2010/2012.
When Ray and Barbara Brown were living in Melton and Ray was Lay Training and Development Officer in the Circuit, their daughter Sally married an Australian, Mark. Four years into their marriage they moved to live and work in Australia in a Bush community called Kangaroo Ground on the outskirts of Melbourne.
The day after their 18th. wedding anniversary and a month after her 45th birthday Sally died of Breast Cancer, just nine months after diagnosis. In her short life she had touched the lives of hundreds of people in Australia and throughout the world as the Brown family had moved so often during Ray's ministry as an RAF Chaplain.
Because of the distance and the suddenness of her death many of her close family were not able to be part of the memorial service to her in Australia at which nearly two hundred people gathered.
 In order to create a living memorial to her, in which he all her friends could participate, Ray and Barbara contacted World Vision's Remembrance Gift division and told Sally's story of her love of children and passion for education and justice. World Vision suggested that Ray and Barbara might contribute toward the building of a crèche for thirty children and a feeding centre for hundreds of vulnerable children.
Within a few months of contacting her friends the total cost of the building was donated.
The ongoing cost of providing carers, teachers, equipment and food supplies has still to be found and the hope is that Sally's Place can be extended with the help of continuing support, so that more and more vulnerable children can be nurtured and nourished.
Sally's Place is situated in Makgaung, in Limpopo province, South Africa. It has been constructed by the Kodumela ADP with financial assistance from Ray and Barbara Brown, who decided that the money which was donated in memory of their daughter Sally should be used to benefit the children of this community.
Officially opened in November 2009 and then named after Sally.
 Ray and Barbara attended the opening ceremony and were immensely impressed with the work that was going on and the happiness that they felt flowed from Sally's Place. Besides the children of pre-school age, who attend daily, they were joined by up to a hundred other children, mainly orphans to AIDS, and other vulnerable children who came after school to be fed at Sally's Place.
It is in the middle of a very vulnerable community badly affected by poverty. It is the only crèche in the area and caters for more than 40 children up to the age of five. The majority of the mothers of these children are under 20yrs of age and live in shacks in the nearby Makgaung informal settlement. The crèche gives the opportunity for these mothers to leave their children with responsible caregivers while they are at work and has met one of the most important needs of farm and domestic workers dominating this area.
The children are given nutritional meals every day, and the food is carefully monitored to ensure that a healthy balanced diet is followed. The children's developmental needs are being met through structured activities that include reciting days of the week, counting, painting, singing and story telling.
The building has been well constructed with face-brick, and enclosed with a strong fence giving the area a sense of security for the children. It is essentially a child friendly area, equipped with swings and slides outside and lots of toys and games for the children to play with. The crèche and a 'Drop-In Centre' situated within the same safe yard is administered and overseen by World Vision. There is some hope of getting Government funding soon as 'Sally's Place' is in the process of being registered with the Department of Social Development so that the crèche can receive subsidy to feed the children and pay the teachers. It goes without saying that even with such a subsidy there will still be a lot of needs to be met and continuing financial support is needed. So far our circuit has raised £3000 and growing.
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