Kloof quilters make warm donation to school
Learners at a special-needs school in Ntshongweni were blessed with 35 quilts which will keep them colourful and warm.
AFTER the 2024 Quilt Festival held in Pietermaritzburg in July, Village/Grassroots Quilters Guild in Kloof made a decision to donate 35 quilts to the Ntshongweni School for the Disabled.
Since 2019, the quilters of KZN have been making quilts to be donated to charities in 2024.
The school is a care centre in the rural area for disabled children, some of them both mentally and physically challenged. The school, which looks after 35 children, now has toilets and running water, and recently acquired electricity.
This is all thanks to various donors.
Kelly-Ann Kidgell, who runs a charity that is assisting the school, is helping build a proper building for them.
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Kidgell said she was introduced to the school in 2016 when she and her friend, Brigette Wortmann, were asked by a colleague of her mom’s to try to give the school a Christmas party as they had so very little.
“We agreed, were given directions to the ‘school’ and were met with absolute squalor. The first time I saw their ‘school’, I knew I wanted to build them something safer, better. Something that at least had a toilet and running water since the place they were at had one long-drop.
“The kiddies stole our hearts; we have been throwing them Christmas parties every year since,” she said.
She said that since then, a lot has happened, including Brigette emigrating.
“In 2018, I decided it was time to start fundraising to build that school I had envisioned. I knew I would need to take on a big challenge and attempt the crowdfunding method of raising money. So I decided I would swim from Robben Island to Blouberg with my training partner.”
The school still survived through Covid, the protests of 2021 and the floods of 2022.
“It’s very humble, but it is full of hope and love. There is always more required, and often the funds I have managed to bring in for one thing have to be spent on food as the school lunch is sometimes the only meal our pupils get all day. Without the kindness of donors, and others who have been with us since the beginning, we would get nowhere.
“The donation of these beautiful quilts has added brightness and colour to our little school. It felt like a hug of hope and courage as each was wrapped around the pupils, and we are extremely grateful to Lyn Gonzaga and the ladies from Village/Grassroots Quilters Guild.”
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She added that the ultimate dream is to find nearby land and build a crèche that Thozama Shezi, the founder of the school, could charge a small childcaring fee for, which would assist in funding the school for the disabled.
“She has worked tirelessly at keeping our pupils safe, fed and nurtured, without any pay but from the kindness of her heart. It has been a long, often exhausting and heart-wrenching journey.”
Kidgell added that, sometimes, it can be a bit overwhelming as she also has to balance three busy boys of her own, work and life’s demands.
“But it’s a journey I feel blessed to have been on.”
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