As winter approaches we have increased our number of distributions in order to get all the wonderful warm stock of blankets, beanies, tops and other items out to the orphaned and vulnerable children of South Africa before the really chilly weather reaches us. I will report on each and every distribution that we do focussing on one distribution at a time. At the moment the office is packed and we can barely move, but within the next two months, we hope to have distributed everything.
We are packing up all the stock for distribution – a huge task to say the least!
At the beginning of April we visited a school called Sakisizwe in Dobsonville Soweto and were thrilled to see yet another magnificently managed facility.
Arriving at Sakisiwe Pre-school.
Sonto, the principal, does an amazing job with these children and you can see just how important this is in helping to raise happy and confident children!!!
The children of Sakisizwe at work and PLAY!
Wandi and I handed each of the children a beanie, top and blanket and spent some times playing with the children.
A riot of colour and happiness…
The children were fascinated by our colourful G4S KASVan and before we knew it, climbing into and sitting in the van was an “outing”. Take a look at how something so small can bring such enjoyment to these children. We had to lift the children up into the van and they simply sat in the back and enjoyed themselves.
Gorgeous smiles and such fun!!!
The little ones were in a separate classroom and enjoyed a puppet show – the hand puppets sent by contributors are most appreciated by the teachers who find them very valuable as a teaching tool. We gave the little ones beanies, tops and toys and left blankets for each of them – they sometimes get very overwhelmed when we bundle them up.
Just look at some of their faces while their teacher plays with the giraffe puppet!
The puppet was later passed onto the little girl with the pink beanie…
Very few of the schools that we visit are so well run, but it is refreshing to see such happy children when we do – enjoy their smiles:
I have just returned from a break down in the Cape and am looking forward to spending the last few days with my sister Zanny who returns to Australia on Monday and my other sister Charm who arrives today from the UK and who will spend just under a week with me. We have not all been together for some time now and you can bet that vast amounts of tea will be sipped as we have so much catching up to do in a short space of time!
Replies
What beautiful smiles! Nice that the kids were so excited about getting into the van. (I can remember the excitement of sitting on a tractor for the first time.) Kudos Rhonda for making KAS happen!! And hats off to Sonto: the kids look so happy, and it was good seeing them sit at little tables on chairs and play. The room looks bright and cheerful.
This report and the wonderful photos have given me just the start I need for the day. It's difficult sometimes to realise just how little these children have and that they can be so overwhelmed by a simple hand puppet or being allowed to sit in a van.
Their smiles are such a great reward for all of us.
Thank you Ronda, I love to see the photos and hear your stories about the impact we are all having.. So inspiring thank you.
Lovely report Ronda, agree it is nice to see happy children.
No doubt it is hard for you to catch up with your sisters too, you are spread out across half the globe LOL!
Look forward to seeing more distribution photos soon!
Thank you, it never seem seems enough so I just had a good idea THANK YOU TEAM RONDA. More wonderful photos and so great to see the three sisters together - Zanny Ronda and Charm, who would have thought when you were all children that you would be on the www in such an amazing organisation of warming the children. :)
What a super report! And I agree, how wonderful to see so many happy faces for once and a school that is very well run and not in incredibly dire straits like some of them are. I have smiled and chuckled over so many of the pictures. I never thought that the hand puppets could be used as teaching aides by the teachers...what a superb idea! I think this needs to be mentioned on KAS a lot more, about the puppets I mean. From the looks of the children they've never seen a puppet before and now their world has been that much enlarged and enriched for seeing how one works. No doubt they will try it themselves in future, probably with their own stuffed toys.
Such an uplifting report as usual and all the happy smiling faces and yours too.
Even though you are probably feeling 'squished', it is wonderful to see that mountain of blankets waiting to warm our kids! Sakisizwe looks like a wonderful creche.
A riot of colour and smiles!! Ronda, it's great to see you with your two sisters!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful report. The children's faces speak volumes. Thank you for sharing your family with us, also.