A widow and her two young children seeking shelter at her gate on a rainy day led Dianne Lehy to establish Greensleeves, a community initiative that has grown to support vulnerable families and children through feeding programmes and education.
Lehy said the organisation did not begin with a planned project or a clear vision, but with a decision to help a woman who had nowhere to go.
“Greensleeves started not because I put it in my diary and chose to have a date.
"I took in a widow with two babies at my gate. It was pouring with rain, and I approached her and offered help,” Lehy said.
After learning that the woman survived on R150 a month, she realised that providing temporary shelter would not be enough.
“We actually need to help this lady. She's living on R150 a month. We need to give her more than just a roof over her head,” she recalled telling her husband, a school principal at the time who has since retired.
With the assistance of a lawyer, Russell Lindy, the initiative eventually registered as a nonprofit organisation.
Lehy said the work later expanded to include education as she wanted children to have opportunities to break the cycle of poverty.
“I felt so heavy in my heart that I wanted to open up a school and get these kids educated, to stop this whole poverty cycle,” Lehy said.
Today, the organisation operates 15 foster homes and Fig Tree Independent School, established eight years ago to provide quality education for children in its care.
Feeding children in local communities remains an important part of the work.
She said seeing children walking long distances, sometimes in the rain, for soup and bread reminded her why she continued.
“Sometimes if I'm early, I can see them running towards me. And it makes me have the strength just to keep carrying on,” she said.
Her focus is now on teaching older children to take responsibility for the feeding programme.
“I want them to know that it's not Auntie Di. We are doing this together,” she said, adding, "It takes a village to raise a child."
