Green Door

Brown Lekekela was born in Botshabelo in the Free State and moved to Gauteng in 2007 — not for the employment his family expected, but because community volunteer work was his calling. He started as a peer educator on HIV/AIDS prevention, going door to door in Diepsloot, teaching at clinics and schools. Through this work he encountered the deep, entrenched patriarchal beliefs that left women in his community exposed and vulnerable to violence. In 2011 he began volunteering at the Diepsloot Police Victim Support Centre — where he witnessed firsthand how domestic violence and sexual abuse went unreported again and again, in a township of an estimated 700,000 people served by a single police station.

He saw women arriving at the police station afraid. He saw them conditioned to believe they deserved the abuse. He saw them turned away or ignored. And he decided to build something different — even if it was only a wendy house and two brick rooms on his own property.

In December 2013, during the government's 16 Days of Activism campaign, Green Door Women's Shelter was launched — the only shelter of its kind in the entire Diepsloot community.

What They Offer Survivors

24/7 Place of Safety — Any Hour, Any Day Brown is available at all hours of the day and night. Survivors arrive torn, bleeding, bruised, traumatised, and often without a cent. Green Door is always open. No appointment needed. No government referral required. Just a person in need and Brown's door.

Dignity Packs Every survivor who arrives receives a dignity pack — basic hygiene and personal care items that restore a minimum of physical dignity and signal that they are valued and cared for.

Emotional Support and Counselling Brown provides immediate emotional support and counselling to every person who comes — trained over years of frontline experience and sustained by a personal commitment that goes far beyond professional obligation.

Guidance on Opening Criminal Cases Brown advises survivors on their right to open criminal cases against their abusers and helps them navigate the process — building their confidence to engage with the justice system and ensuring that perpetrators face accountability.

Food Parcels for Economically Dependent Survivors For survivors who are financially dependent on their abusers, Green Door provides food parcels — so that they can survive while getting back on their feet without having to return to danger out of hunger.

Community Awareness and Men's Education Brown's GBV work extends into the community — visiting bars, taverns, churches, community centres, and schools to talk to men about gender roles, healthy masculinity, and the harm caused by what their culture has taught them. He educates children on what GBV is, how to recognise it, and how to prevent it.

Monthly Women's Independence Workshops Every Thursday of the month, Green Door hosts a workshop bringing stakeholders together to encourage and equip women toward independence — providing a space for skills, knowledge, and community connection.

Support Groups and Dialogue Sessions Regular support groups and dialogue sessions extend support to the broader community — creating space for those impacted by GBV to process trauma and find collective strength.

The #RewriteOurProverbs Campaign In partnership with Clockwork Media, Green Door launched the #RewriteOurProverbs / #WriteOffGBV campaign — a powerful cultural intervention that identified and rewrote traditional Zulu, Xhosa, English, and Afrikaans proverbs that normalise violence against women, generating widespread public conversation and donated advertising support across out-of-home media, social media, and influencer networks.

Green Door Women's Shelter, Diepsloot West, Johannesburg. Phone: 065 247 3643 or 082 304 3237. Email: admin@greendoorshelter.org. Facebook: GreenDoorDiepsloot. The shelter receives no government funding — donations directly sustain Brown's work.