Turning Tragedy into Hope

09 March 2018


When the Bela Bela SUPERSPAR store burnt down in late 2017, owner Carel Coetzee committed to paying his staff, even though they could no longer work in the store. Instead they worked on various projects within the community.



Owner, Carel Coetzee explains, “The I AM SPAR project was born next to our burning store… we explained to our staff that although we have lost a building, we can still serve. We divided our staff into teams and they are currently working at the old age home, schools, hospitals and even at the local police station.”

Since then the staff members have collectively done more than 60 000 man hours of community service. They have painted schools, built churches (from the ground up), cultivated vegetable gardens for the poorer communities and even refurbished the hospital.