In Part 3 of this series Boeta Swart, founder of Anchor of Hope, shares a few testimonies of the kind of miracles that have become normal in this multi-faceted NPO that restores dignity to the lives of people and communities in the Bloemfontein area
This week, Anchor of Hope founder Boeta Swart told me some stories about God’s miraculous hand in the provision of three houses for meeting the needs of men, women and children in need of shelter and support.
About 10 years ago they began to seek a house after they realised that a pregnancy crisis centre started by his wife, Charmaine, had outgrown its premises in a rented garage on a street close to the Central University of Technology (CUT). Charmaine realised that she needed to not only counsel the young women who came to her for help with unplanned pregnancies but also to offer them accommodation.
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Eventually Boeta discovered a student house that the owner was willing to sell. Despite not having a cent to pay for the house he made an offer to buy it. His offer was accepted valid for 30 days.
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When Charmaine asked him how he could make an offer with no money. he simply said he believed God had put the house on his heart.
On day 30 of the offer he visited a local businessman whose partner asked him how things were going. When he told him about the offer that was expiring that day, the man said to his colleague: “Buy them the house.” And that’s what they did.
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Now, Boeta was faced with the massive challenge of renovating the building that was in a bad state after decades of student abuse. “So, again, without a cent to pay for it, I appointed a contractor, and by the end of the job we spent nearly a million rand getting the house ready,” he said.
God provided for the renovation through many small miracles, said Boeta. One day, after a businessman had offered to give them all the concrete they needed, he discovered they had ordered a truckload less than they needed. He phoned the donor who said he was sorry but he had given them all the concrete he had.
“Ten minutes later he phoned me and said one site had one truckload too much. Do we want it?”
Subsequently, the pregnancy crisis centre’s ultrasound machine, an expensive item of equipment that had previously been donated to them, broke down. While they were seeking to get it repaired in Johannesburg they got a call from a national support organisation that said Anchor of Hope was on a list of centres chosen to receive ultrasound machines from America. Their new machine was even better and more expensive than the one that had broken down.
Today the Anchor of Hope pregnancy crisis centre accommodates eight women and Charmaine counsels about 35 women a month. They also do educational outreaches to schools and tertiary education institutions.
Most of the women who stay at the centre are students referred by social workers. All of them have opted to keep their babies, who are usually taken home by their families some time after they are born. In recent years a number of schoolgirls have been referred to the centre. Anchor of Hope helps to arrange foster care for their babies and assists with getting the mothers back to school, paying their fees for a year or so.
“It’s been quite a journey. I think this ministry has a special place in God’s heart,” said Boeta.
House number 2
The next house he told me about is poised to become a family home where 16 single mothers will be able to live until their children have completed their schooling. It is a 16-room house that was built as a hospital in the 1960s. The house was donated to them by an NPO that was closing after the death of the woman who had run it.
When Anchor of Hope took possession of the house last year, Boeta once again faced the challenge of undertaking a massive renovation project without funds in place.
He appointed a contractor who turned out to be a Christian who was willing to start work on the project on the understanding that he would eventually be paid for his services., Boeta asked Charmaine to pray for the project and during that time “a sister received Psalm 96, which in Afrikaans is titled For young women“, said Boeta. That settled things for him, and the renovation began.
Then a big, local company offered to pay for all the labour costs, provided that Anchor of Hope secured all the materials. “And so we began to source materials from all kinds of people all over the place.”
One day, when they were stuck for funds to buy materials, somebody sent Boeta a Scripture about getting help for a project from foreigners. That day, as he was standing in a building materials store, he saw a message on his phone from somebody “with a strange number”. He responded and spoke to a lady in Australia, who said she had read about their project on Facebook and wanted to support it. “That enabled us to keep going.”
Another time he spoke to God about their need for 12 showers, adding that “they are so expensive”. Then a man from a glass company phoned him and offered to sponsor all of the showers.
Boeta said that, thanks to miracle after miracle, they now just need to install cupboards before opening the house. He said the family shelter will help them to fulfil their vision of meeting people’s needs throughout the cycle of life from birth onwards. They expect that some women from the pregnancy crisis centre, who have nowhere to go, will be able to move to the family house where they will later be helped with finding employment and their children will be placed in good schools.
Men’s shelter
The third miracle house Boeta shared about is their men’s shelter. Some years ago a recently-widowed woman asked Boeta if Anchor of Hope could take over running a family shelter in the house as she could no longer manage the men living there. Boeta said when they went to view the house, which was built for about 30 people, they found about 60 people were living there in sordid conditions. The house was also rife with alcohol abuse, drugs and prostitution.
With the help of police they got the house cleared and decided to start from scratch with a men’s shelter. Then, in line with their policy of owning properties in order to cut costs and enable modifications, they took steps to buy the house. But they hit an unexpected obstacle in the final stages of the process. The municipality cut their water supply because of a R360 000 outstanding bill they had not known about. And they found out they could not take ownership of the house until the account was settled. They did not have the money and they did not want to have to tell donors who had already painted the house and installed solar geysers that the deal was off.
Boeta said that soon after they started repaying the water debt in instalments, a trustee of the NPO that had given them the women and children’s shelter house, told him he would speak to a contact in the municipality. The municipality agreed to halve their debt. But they were still faced with paying off R120 000. But God came through again when a company that was hosting a golf day contacted them and said they had decided to donate the proceeds of the event to Anchor of Hope. The donation was R120 000.
“We paid the municipality and I am going to fetch the papers [for the house] today,” said Boeta.
He said that most of the men in the shelter which they have been running since 2018, work for Anchor of Hope. They have a practice that when men get offers of outside work they are moved into a special four-person transit room in the shelter for three months. By God’s grace the transit room is always full, “testifying that we are pushing the men back into society”, said Boeta.
He said the shelter usually provides further transition assistance to the men returning to society. “If they get a flat we usually help them with furniture.” The furniture is sourced from Anchor of Hope’s carpentry and upholstery store, one of its job creation projects.
Boeta said that if he were to speak about all of the miracles — big and small — that had become a normal part of life at Anchor of Hope, he would have to speak for hours. But he said it was important for people to understand that it had not been that way in the early years after they started the ministry in 2008 as new believers with nothing but willing hearts.
He said that he believed that God looks at hearts as His people press through difficult times. And if He finds people serving faithfully and joyfully despite the struggles, the miracles start to happen.
“God sometimes waits to see what is in your heart, especially if He gives you a Scripture. If God gives you the confirmation to do something, He will definitely come through. Sometimes, not at the time, you think. But He will come through.”
He expressed deep gratitude for the many generous people who are agents in the ongoing miracles at Anchor of Life.
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