An initiative born out of a drinking game gave a South African man the platform to help a grandmother, looking after orphans, who lost her home to a fire.
It was just a few days before Christmas in December 2013 when the daily morning routine of Elizabeth Barrett, a 70-year-old grandmother, was abruptly halted by the smell of burning wires and smoke coming from one of the rooms in her house in Harrington Street in Cape Town.
The two-storey, Victorian-styled house was home to her, two adults and 14 children, some of whom were orphans she had taken in and sheltered.
After her husband died of cancer 10 years ago, Barrett opened up her home to homeless and vulnerable children, putting clothes on their backs, food in their mouths and providing for their education.
The grandmother, a hero in her own right, was preparing porridge when one of the children alerted her to the blaze coming from one of the rooms.
“There was a lot of smoke in the room. Then the fire came up straight to my face. I said to the children, ‘you must wake the others and we must run’, because the fire was too strong,” Elizabeth recalls
With no time to grab any belongings, the caretaker escaped the house with the children before the flames started to grow.
However, one child was still stuck in the house.
Braving the flames, Barrett ran back into the house to rescue the boy who was stuck under a bed.
The Victorian house that was a beacon of hope and refuge, burnt down to the ground leaving the family to sleep in a warehouse next door.
At the same time as the devastating fire, Brent Lindeque, a young South African man had turned the reckless drinking game Neknominaitons on it’s head, by using his nomination to instead, perform a random act of kindness.
Building on the foundation of a spontaneous act of positivity… by giving a homeless man a $2 meal, and using the power of social media to “pay-it-forward” his nomination went viral and he was featured on everything from CNN to Mashable and Huffington Post.
More importantly it spawned thousands of similar videos, reaching and physically improving millions of lives around the world.
When Ashton Hayes, a resident of Tamboerskloof in Cape Town, discovered that this was Elizabeth’s fate he used the new Neknomination/Raknomination to gather support from his network to help the children of Harrington House.
Three years later, Mrs. Barrett’s House has been rebuilt and the household belongings replaced through the generosity of all the volunteers, who raised the sponsorship and donations required and project managed the entire rebuild of the house.
“Some of you may remember us helping Elizabeth Barret in 2013 when her home was devastated by a fire. The donations from our fundraising campaign rebuilt her roof and then some amazing people and businesses got involved and over the past few years have completely transformed her home and life.”
“A huge thank you once again to all my friends and family who donated.”
Hayes cannot express enough thanks for Tony Dallas who came shortly after they had rebuilt the roof and when funds were running dry, Dallas put together the team and sponsors that then transformed the interior of Elizabeth’s home.
“He’s been so persistent in helping Elizabeth and he’s been an inspiration to me.”
Dallas, is just in awe of Mrs Barrett’s dedication and added:
“She is a remarkable woman who selflessly gives of her time and energy to the lives of others. The fact that so many people have come together to ensure that her work can continue is enormously satisfying.”
Some of the people who supported Harrington House are: Neighbour Ashton Hayes, Structural engineer Alten Hulme, Builders Warehouse, Group Five, Alastair Rendall of ARG Design, the Petousis family, Jacqui Williams of The Townhouse Hotel, Duo Marketing and Communication, and many others.
Watch the update video here but get the tissues ready:
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