When the team which brought hope and the spirit of Christmas to the children of Iphahamiseng arrived with their presents, the little ones could not hold back their joy as they were waiting in anticipation to have fun. “Ke jumping castle ya rona eo? Re ka bapalla ho yona? (Is that our jumping castle? Can we play on it?) asked one of the children from Iphahamiseng Child Care Centre moments before they could start playing at the jumping castle yesterday.
Speaking to the manager of the centre, Aubrey Williams, he said their main core function at the centre is to help abandoned and destitute children. “Most people called these children street kids and as you know the street has never born a child, but it is through circumstances that you find the children in the streets running around and eating from dustbins,” said Aubrey Williams. According to the manager of Iphahamiseng, which means up lift yourself, the centre started in 1993 which was the brain child of both Aubrey and his wife, Sana Williams.
Williams pointed out that the reasons attributed to the existence of vulnerable children were as the result of mothers who have abandoned their children. “One of the reasons is when a man leaves the mother with children and does not provide any form of support to the family,” Williams said.
Yesterday King’s Comfort, which is the fastest growing bed manufacturer in the country, donated ten brand new beds to the centre, while London Chippy & Grill provided Christmas lunch for the children. Fenwick’s Butchery donated food and Budget Soup donated cleaning products. The Anchor of Hope organisation put the icing on the cake when they donated toys for the children after the Dumelang Media appeal.
The ‘People’s Paper’ who organised the event yesterday ensured that the jumping castle was in place. “When we visited this centre we realised that the place was already being renovated. Therefore, when we went back to our director, we told us that we need to do something different to just providing food, under this directive the team rolled out this plan. we told her that we would also like to do the hair of these beautiful children,” said Tshidi Sechaba, the Sales executive at Dumelang News.
Sechaba further added that “every year we have our own CIS (Corporate Social Investment) project and this year we decided to be different , hence we invited our partners who were more than willing to come onboard with this project and on behalf of Dumelang Media, we are deeply grateful for what they did today.”
“It’s a different world to these children that are living here at Iphahamiseng, compared to the children living in a suburb where they have cupboards filled with toys. It’s amazing to see them playing with almost anything that they can use as a toy, ” said Andries Taljaard, Big Dreamer from King’s Comfort.
According to Taljaard, such projects which help the needy should not be seasonal, but should be continuous projects. “We would like to come back to give more beds. We have realised the need is too much and it is our duty to make sure that these children have equal opportunity in life,” said the Big Dreamer.
Source: dumelangnews.co.za