About Us

Vistarus was founded on 8 July 1998 by Kobus and Lynette Jacobs, who saw the need to take suffering, homeless families off the street and help with their restoration into mainstream society. After a series of messages at church asking the question what legacy we leave behind, the couple received a call to make an impact in society, helping the needy. An employee of Kobus, at that time, was living at what had previously been the Transnet owned Bennie Pienaar Railway Hostel. He asked Kobus if he could take home some water to his family, as their water and electricity had been shut off for some time. Kobus allowed it and offered to take him home. He walked onto a property that had effectively degenerated into a slum, with gangsterism, prostitution, drug lords and shebeens operating on the premises. The health inspector had wanted to close the building down, but this is where the LORD wanted to make a difference and where the Jacobs family received the call to effect that difference. After numerous challenges and obstacles were overcome by divine intervention, Kobus and Lynette were enabled to buy the building.

Their mandate was to love the needy and give them a new chance in life. Since those early years, Vistarus has grown in size and scope of its service offering to the broader community. Some of the facilities and services we now offer is a TV lounge for the residents, a well-stocked library, a doctor’s surgery, dental assistance, crèche, clothing bank, an efficient laundry, a kitchen which supplies 23,000 meals monthly, The vision however remains the same: To restore the broken in mind, body and soul through giving hope and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our mission: Providing a safe haven for homeless, impoverished and addicted people of all races in order to reintegrate them into society.

This fullness of this vision still lies ahead, but there are now many landmarks of success along the road that are evidences of the LORD’s mercy. To truly understand the scope of this work, we invite you for a visit to our premises to see first-hand what it is that we do and how lives are being changed.