What if Santa didn’t come just once a year? This is the question that Chrissie van Niekerk, Vodacom Change the World Volunteer at iThemba Projects, posed to the children at Epworth Primary school. Chrissie shared in their assembly about the fact that often we get excited about sharing and giving only at Christmas time, but don’t think about children in need at any other time of the year. But if children have a need for toys and games at Christmas, don’t they have a need year round?
The students at Epworth were challenged to do something about this, and they have since raised funds and collected pre-loved toys to be donated to iThemba’s Toy Library. The Toy Library is used by iThemba’s Early Childhood Home Stimulation (ECHS) programme in Sweetwaters. Through this programme, parents and caregivers are involved in parent-child playgroups, and receive home visits from Early Childhood Development (ECD) mentors who give them tips and training in ECD.
Thanks to Epworth’s assistance in launching the beginnings of the Toy Library, parents in the ECHS programme are now able to also borrow a bag of quality educational toys, puzzles, dolls, cars etc. to use for the month. At the end of every month, they are able to swap their bag out for new toys.
This is a sustainable way to ensure that the children in the 120 families in the programme have access to quality, age-appropriate toys. Thanks to Epworth and the Toy Lending library, families in Sweetwaters won’t just have Santa visiting them this Christmas—rather, they’ll experience the joy and delight of a new bag of toys every month! Thank you Epworth!
About iThemba Projects: iThemba Projects partners with the people of Mpumuza (Sweetwaters) to transform a generation of kids and teens through education and mentoring so that they may bring hope to their community, and be a light throughout South Africa. www.ithembaprojects.org.za
News supplied by iThemba Projects.
