Old newspapers turned into a sleeping bag
"At first we were concerned that this was not helping but rather keeping homeless folk on the street. It appears that the reverse is true."
NIGHTS for Bongani Mthembu, who sleeps on the streets of Durban have become much warmer, after he was gifted with a padded plastic and newspaper sleeping bag called the Lions Snuggler during the the Dare2Share event at the Denis Hurley Center on Friday.
“I thought we were going to get blankets and clothes but am very excited that I got the sleeping bag and am the only one who has it here in Durban. At least now I can be warm this winter and in summer I don’t have to worry about the rain, ruining my sleeping bag. thank you to the ladies,” said Mthembu.
The snuggler is the creation of the North Durban Lions Club members. The members came up with a creative way of using old newspapers to create the waterproof sleeping bag. The members tape piles of folded newspapers to plastic sheeting and slide them into plastic bags to make sleeping bags. The idea for the sleeping bags was initially designed by Jo Maxwell, who, according to the Design Indaba website, is a Cape Town resident who prototyped sleeping bags in 2005 using recycled, heavy-duty plastic bags and 10 layers of newspaper.
According to Avril Hobbs, the President of the North Durban Club, at first they were concerned that the creation of the snugglers, was not going to help but rather keep homeless people on the streets.
“At first we were concerned that this was not helping but rather keeping homeless folk on the street.It appears that the reverse is true. Lions make the Snugglers as they are called and distribute them through various agencies enabling homeless people to be at the least warm and dry without the risk of someone trying to steal their blankets.The bag fits an adult and folds up into a community paper size parcel which can be easily carried but has no real monetary value,” Hobbs said.
The project was first launched at an initial Snuggler-making event held at the Midrand China Mall on July 2, where 12 clubs participated in making 200 sleeping bags. The target was to make and distribute 500 ‘Snugglers’ for the month of July, but as the word spread, more Lions Clubs throughout the district, organisations, corporates, scout groups and schools lent their hands to the cause.
