What started as a one-woman campaign against abuse 10 years ago has grown into a well-known movement that has assisted hundreds of people on the Cape Flats.
Lucinda Evans is the founder and director of Philisa Abafazi Bethu, an organisation based in Lavender Hill, which assists and cares for abused and vulnerable women and children.
Lucinda started her movement by working in her dining room, but these days the organisation has grown so large that it has to rent premises at a Lavender Hill high school.
To celebrate a decade in existence, Lucinda held a fancy ball and gala dinner at the St Augustine Cricket Club house on Friday, with guests including leaders and activists at the forefront of the fight against woman and child abuse.
“We are celebrating 10 years of activism for child protection and women empowerment,” says Lucinda.
“Philisa Abafazi Bethu started in my home and stayed there for eight years and 11 months.
“I sold my furniture and my car and sometimes couldn’t pay my children’s school fees because I gave my all to the organisation.
“But today I reap the benefits, and oh, I’m paying off the children’s fees via a lawyer.”
Lucinda says she and her team have spent many hours working on cases of missing or murdered children in the province.
“We have done a lot in child protection, we are not yet a designated child protection agency but we are working towards it.
“We invited people who have been part of our project from the beginning,” she says.
The next step is for the organisation to aquire its own property to establish a family center that will include programs for parents, youth at risk and children.
“We are also now a registered emergency safehouse and women needing emergency protection may access our
services,” Lucinda adds.