We are sad to tell you that Heather Reynolds, founder of God’s Golden Acre, died on 3 April 2020. Heather played a key role in the LaSER Centenary Challenge when she agreed to host groups of senior section members at God’s Golden Acre (GGA), Cato Ridge in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Between 2008 and 2011 eight teams of young women from the region went to GGA, some 150 members in total.
Heather was found to have a tumour on her kidney and bladder in January 2020 and after some treatment was told that the prognosis was not good. She went home to Cato Ridge and spent the final few months with her husband Patrick and their family.
Heather and Patrick started providing care for children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic in the late 1990s and within a few years, the organisation they founded was caring for more than 90 orphans in family-type groups at GGA. In addition, there was a food distribution programme to keep families together in their homes in the valleys. Heather wrote a book called ‘God’s Golden Acre’, published in 2005, which tells the story.
Heather’s reputation and her unique relationship with the local chiefs allowed our region teams access to the Zulu villages in the valleys. Under the safe patronage of the chiefs, we were able to achieve a cultural interaction with children and families which would not have been possible in any other circumstances. Heather was enthusiastic about Girlguiding and what it taught girls and young women and she also understood the cultural and social impact that the experience of visiting the valleys had on our Guide and leader members.
Everyone who met Heather will remember her. She had that rare gift of being able to meet people wherever they were in life and relate to them. She was warm and empathetic, generous in her hospitality and welcoming to her home. I am one of the Girlguiding members fortunate to have met Heather and I owe her much; I am not alone.