Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Making Easter joyous for children
FORMER drug dealer, now missionary and humanitarian, Charmaine Josephs, dubbed the “Mother Teresa of Lavender Hill”, is blessing 650 children in her community with Easter joy on Monday.
Josephs, 61, has bought 650 Easter eggs and vetkoek, tuna and party packets for underprivileged children from the streets of Lavender Hill.
Since 2007, Josephs has been making Easter special for children who do not know the joy of receiving a chocolate egg to celebrate the holy festivities.
Josephs, who went back to school in 2009, did not experience receiving Easter eggs as a child.
It is for this reason that she clothes schoolchildren in need, fills their stomachs and treats them with Easter eggs.
In 1999, Josephs was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for dealing in drugs.
She was once married to a gang leader and used to hide drugs inside her children’s school clothes.
In 2007, Joseph reformed and became a born-again Christian. She travelled extensively, as far as Germany, to do missionary work. This includeed visiting local prisons where she has shared her life story.
During her travels, she was baptised in the Jordan River and visited Israel. When she reformed, Josephs carried out a journey of reconciliation in her community, asking families to forgive her for the homes and lives she destroyed in her past life.
Josephs’s home is a place where children can get a hot meal. The place
where she once sold drugs is now a haven where hundreds of litres of food made with love is shared.
“Every Easter and Christmas I would make 650 party packets and provide school clothing for children
in need and this year I received sponsorship from my international friends in Germany.
“It is my passion to do this, to put smiles on children’s faces.
“I want to thank everyone, I could not have done it on my own, and for making every year possible for children to go out on an annual excursion to the beach on December 16 and for them to celebrate Easter Monday.
“I have 20 boxes of marshmallows with 36 in a box so I have 700 Easter eggs but will be catering for 650 children and the remainder I will bless to a crèche or a Sunday school.
Mabeleen Chapman, who is an activist and works with Josephs, said the reformed drug dealer helped in all spheres of her community.
“Charmaine Josephs, if I say her name, it speaks of voluntary work,” she said. “She works at a charity shop and there she meets people who have supported her in her plight to help others.
“She is an inspiration. She is a street and court committee member and gives support to families, even where there is death in families, she will go with them to Home Affairs or even school registration, she is there.”
Yolanda Matthews, of the New World Foundation, an NGO in Lavender Hill said: “She is a very humble, honest, loving and detail oriented.
“She really reaches out to people by assisting them with Home Affairs issues like birth certificates and identification documents, and sacrifices her personal time to stand up at 3am to take them to that place.
“Charmaine has big respect for people … she is a mother to me and I believe to many people also.”