In early 2008 at the request of the wider community, the church wardens of St Augustine’s church and with the blessing of the George Anglican Diocese, Dreamcatcher accepted custodianship of the old rectory on the grounds of the historical St Augustine’s church in Melkhoutfontein. The building was completely abandoned and dilapidated. Over time the building was transformed into our sustainable futures centre to plan and deliver work in the local community and beyond. This included completely upgrading the building, installation of new windows and security, fencing off the grounds, extending the building, and going completely off grid being powered by solar and running from rainwater.
Alongside this we transformed the surrounding grounds, which were covered in invasive species and had been used as a dumpsite, into a botanical garden, and we also refurbished the historical St Augustine’s church built in 1908.
For over a decade the home office was our loving home which fulfilled many functions including:
The Home Office evolved into an important place of learning and skills transfer in the community. Overtime we formally took over the lease of the building – and in 2022 we were informed by St Augustine’s church that our lease would not be renewed. On 1st January 2023, after 15 years of investment and hard work by the community, international visitors and the Dreamcatcher team, we left. Whilst currently working from a temporary base, we are as busy as ever whilst developing plans for our new home. You can explore how we transformed the building to serve the greater community across all ages in the gallery below.
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