GMA Coronavirus Support: Many hearts touched by the story of 22-year-old Martin Venter

BACKGROUND:  He has been the breadwinner and primary caregiver of his siblings since he was 15-years old. He left school to find a job as his mother could not support them. His parents were divorced, and his dad died two years ago. Martin worked as a carpenter, but the company shut its doors and retrenched all the employees when lockdown started. Martin and his siblings currently live in a caravan park and he has no way of earning a living. His parents didn’t register him at birth, and he’s submitted all the paperwork to get an ID, but this process will only resume at Level 1 of lockdown. This means he cannot claim UIF or any other state support. His former colleague Pieter and his wife Nickey have assisted where they can, but Pieter was also retrenched, so they turned to Good Morning Angels for assistance for Martin and his siblings. Good Morning Angels assisted with R10,000 AngelRands and since then, various listeners have come forward to assist Martin - even two listeners from Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Thank you to the following Angels who assisted Martin Venter since last week:

* Ernst Erasmus: R2,000

* Madelein Kruger: R2,000

* Melodie Kotze: R1,000

* Anonymous: R10,000

* Marieke Joubert: Food and blankets

REQUEST FOR:  Martin Venter

ANGEL 1 :  Jeroen Dijk and Pepijn Werkman from Hond Centraal in Rotterdam, Netherlands 

SPONSORING: Jeroen and Pepijn are avid Jacaranda FM listeners, all the way from Rotterdam in the Netherlands. They were very touched by Martin’s story and reached out to Good Morning Angels with an offer to sponsor Martin with R4,000 (200 Euro) a month for the next four months, to assist him and his siblings during lockdown while Martin cannot look for a job. 

ANGEL 2: Martin can also expect a call from another Jacaranda FM listener on Thursday to discuss future assistance with housing and employment.

ORIGINAL OFFER FROM JEROEN AND PEPIJN:

Hi guys,

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Jeroen Dijk (42) and I live in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Me and my partner are big South-Africa fans and we visit your beautiful country at least once a year. We have been doing that for the last 15 years. Due to the lockdown we were not able to fly over there for our holiday last month but once the lockdown is over we'll jump in a plane again towards South Africa.

We started listening to Jacaranda FM years ago, when we were there on our first holiday. Since then we were hooked. As a result I even listen to the morning show with Martin Bester when I'm at work at home in Rotterdam :) I want to give all of you a huge compliment on your show, it keeps me connected with your beautiful country.

My favourite part of the show is Good morning Angels. Some of the stories are absolutely heart-breaking and I salute you for giving those stories a podium and helping the angels. This morning I heard the life-story of Martin Venter. I can't even imagine how he must feel right now; a young man that has the responsibility over his siblings and is the sole provider for his family since he was a 15-year old boy. He stepped up  for his family and finds himself due to the Covid-crisis suddenly without a job, steady income and can't even get access to some sort of unemployment benefit at the moment. I could feel his despair through the speakers this morning. He really deserved your help and I'm glad he got the R10 000.

Is there a way I can help Martin and his family a bit more? We would like to help them during these difficult Corona-times. We're not millionaires but we know we are really privileged in comparison to families like Martin's. For me personally, guys like Martin are the real role models people should look up to. I can't imagine how I would have felt taking up responsibility for my family at the age of 15.

Is there a way I can get in contact with him? We really want to help and were maybe thinking about a small monthly sponsorship, to at least make sure that the family doesn't have to worry about having money to pay for food for instance. Or maybe you have a better idea how we could help them? 

Hope to hear from you guys. Keep up the good work, hugs from Rotterdam! 

Kind regards,

Jeroen Dijk

Rotterdam / The Netherlands