Heavenly Promise

There mission: to give shelter to abused women of all religious and ethnic backgrounds, protect them from violence, and support them when dealing with authorities. Founded by community worker Lana O'Neill in the remote Matzikama Local Municipality — one of the most geographically isolated parts of the Western Cape, 300 km north of Cape Town on the banks of the Olifants River — HeavenlyPromise48 serves a region where formal GBV infrastructure has historically been almost entirely absent. The Vredendal base offers GBV prevention programmes and crisis intervention for the Matzikama community. In 2012, after O'Neill relocated to Bredasdorp in the Cape Agulhas region, she immediately identified the same gap — and in 2015 HeavenlyPromise48 successfully applied for a tender from Cape Agulhas Municipality (approval 110/2015) to open and operate the first safe house in the Cape Agulhas region, which opened in August 2015 and has since accommodated over 350 women and children. The Bredasdorp safe house team of five passionate women provides: temporary safety and shelter; immediate trauma counselling (Traumatic Incident Trauma Reduction — TITR, completed February 2015); support with SAPS reporting and protection orders; and ongoing crisis intervention. Not enough can be said about the significance of HeavenlyPromise48 in two of South Africa's most underserved rural regions. For shelter crisis access: National Shelter Helpline (NSMSA): 0800 001 005 (toll-free, 24/7) / GBV Command Centre: 0800 428 428 (toll-free, 24/7).