Heather Reynolds - Founder / Director of God's Golden Acre Khayelihle

content

Heather Reynolds is the founder/director of God's Golden Acre Khayelihle. She is an amazing woman whose pioneering work has resulted in saving thousands of desperately sick and dying orphaned children. God's Golden Acre Khayelihle was first started in the Reynolds' own home in Wartburg.

There, love and dedication restored most of these sick children back to life. In 1999 the centre moved to Cato Ridge and now children live in homes built around the original homestead.

Heather has also established an extensive rural outreach project that now cares for more than 4000 orphaned and abandoned children who were living in appalling conditions, providing a basic food parcel, education and school uniforms. Every day more and more children are orphaned. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is now reaching its peak in Kwa Zulu Natal. It is the worst affected area in the world; 36% of the population is HIV positive and up to 250 deaths are recorded a day. Heather started a child-sponsorship programme that more and more people are supporting, thus enabling more and more families to receive the basic necessities to survive.

After Heather presented a paper at the Worlds AIDS Conference in 2000, she was invited to speak at many conferences throughout the world. She is now an inspirational speaker, who dedicates a lot of her time giving talks and interviews, all over the world.

To stop the children from turning to drugs and joining gangs, Heather started a sporting project that now has more than a 100 junior soccer teams. The children also have regular coaching sessions when finances permit.

HEATHER'S BIOGRAPHY, by Dale le Vack

Signed copy of the book is available for £10 includes postage and packaging.(UK and Northern Ireland only)

Cheques payable to:

A. Smith Book Account
Marriage Hill Farm
Bidford on Avon
Warwickshire
B50 4EP

Books will be dispatched by return.

Although proceeds from the sale of the book do not go directly to God's Golden Acre Khayelihle, they are a vital source of income without which Heather would be unable to carry out the wonderful work that she does.

Read an extract:

"The boy was lying on a mat in the hut. He had probably less than a day to live. I finally broke the silence. 'God, from this day on I will help every child in need, every child that needs a home, every child that crosses my path.'"

Heather's sanctuary in South Africa, known as "God's Golden Acre Khayelihle", is the outcome of that promise.

In KwaZulu Natal Heather and her sculptor husband Patrick have established a community for orphans, where nearly 100 children find sanctuary from abuse, poverty, and starvation. The sick can die with dignity. Teams of volunteers risk danger distributing basic food supplies to the many scattered families, most headed by a granny or teenage girl. Each day they rub shoulders with death. 36% of the local people are infected with AIDS - the highest percentage of any area in Africa. For many dying mothers, Heather is the last hope for their children.

In the early years, Heather and Patrick dedicated their entire savings to the orphans and fighting the AIDS pandemic. They faced financial ruin, white and black prejudice, indifference, cruelty and a bureaucracy overwhelmed by need. Often there wasn't enough to eat. Yet time and again, through a series of miracles, and Heather's resolute faith, donors stepped in, touched and challenged by the spirit of Mawethu - the Zulu word for "Our Mother". Where did such courage and vision come from? This is Heather's own astonishing story."