Our star knitter and the lady who helped us start up the Care Bear Project is Lephina Zondi from Lidgetton. Lephina is 68 years old, and retired. She lives with her 3 children, and her 5 grandchildren, as well as her brother’s children since his death. Since the start of the Care Bear Project she has longed to build a covered veranda on the front of her house in order to protect her house from the rainwater that comes in under the door, and has been saving the money she has earned from the project for this. At the end of 2018, when we went to collect the Care Bears from our Lidgetton Group, she very proudly showed us her now completed veranda – and this was a huge help when it started raining while we were collecting the bears. Lephina’s daughter Agness has now joined the project, and between them, the extra R1600 per month that they are earning is making a visible difference to their house and their lives.
Her other daughter Gugu is employed at Oatlands Care Centre in Howick, and previously the family was very reliant on Gugu’s salary. However, with the money that Lephina and Agness are now earning from The Care Bear Project, Gugu’s salary is able to be used to improve their lives rather than covering all the essential day-to-day living costs. Lephina is recognized within the Lidgetton community as the head of this group, and all new applicants go through Lephina to join her waiting list. Lephina trains each of these ladies to make the bears, and she corrects them each month where they are not getting the bears exactly right. (photo of Lephina attached)
And of course, there is the other side of the project – the product of our ladies’ work, the bears. To date we have donated over 5000 bears to various schools, orphanages and hospitals. Each time we hand over a bear, the smile on the face of the child receiving the bear is such a reward in itself.
News supplied by The Care Bear Project.