Showcasing the young lives changed by Good Morning Angels

Updated July 17, 2024, 8:56 a.m. | By Breakfast with Martin Bester

Through listeners' support, Good Morning Angels has been able to change the lives of young people across South Africa. This is what your support has provided...

Smile Foundation - Mandela Day 2023

As we prepare to mark Mandela Day tomorrow, we give feedback today on the impact that was made on Mandela Day last year, when our listeners donated R2.1-million to support the Smile Foundation. This was enough to fund life-changing surgeries to bring back the smiles of 80 children, assisted at four different Smile Weeks!

* George Mukhari Hospital in Ga-Rankuwa in July 2023 and April 2024: 31 Children were assisted

* Universitas Academic Hospital in Bloemfontein in March 2024: 22 Children were assisted

* Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and Tygerberg Hospital in the Western Cape in May 2024: 27 children received transformative surgeries

To support the Smile Foundation to continue their precious work, visit https://smilefoundationsa.org/.

Look at the before and after pictures here:

Oratile before:

Oratile after:

Cobo before:

Cobo after:

Arianna before:

Arianna after:

MENstruation Foundation

In June this year, to mark Youth Day and Father’s Day on 16 June 2024, Good Morning Angels supported the MENstruation Foundation in their quest to end Period Poverty. Three out of 10 schoolgirls in South Africa still miss a week of school every month because they cannot afford sanitary products. Some amazing Dads came up with a plan to address this, in the form of Sanitary Towel Vending Machines. The machines are stocked with high quality, locally made sanitary towels, that are dispensed with the use of a token.

At the time, 128 of these machines had been installed at schools. The co-founder and CEO of the foundation, Marius Basson, says they now have enough funds to install machines at another eight schools!

To support the MENstruation Foundation, visit: https://menstruation.foundation/

Boitumelong Early Learning Centre in Alexandra

In October last year, we invited the inspirational Lunga Ncube - owner of the Boitumelong Early Learning Centre in Alexandra Township - back to the studio, after we met her the year before. In 2022, Good Morning Angels assisted her to rebuild a perimeter wall that collapsed due to heavy rains.

A year later, in 2023, Lunga and her school were raising funds, this time to build a wall between the school and a neighbouring hostel. Lunga said they experienced theft on a regular basis of the school's play and other equipment. Sometimes, she had to keep the children indoors because she feared for their safety. They could not use that part of the grounds at all.

Now, Lunga and some of her very clever learners are here to report back on what they've done since we last saw them.

Not only has the wall been built, but they have had enough to build another classroom.

Look here: