Little Eden celebrates Mandela Day
The themes of Mandela Day were food, climate and solidarity, which meant ubuntu, and getting together as one.
In celebration of Mandela Day, Little Eden residents welcomed various corporates to their homes.
All the love and attention they received was clear on the faces of the Little Eden residents.
The visiting corporates received a tour around the home.
Xelda Rohrbeck, CEO of Little Eden, told the Kempton Express the purpose of the gathering was to celebrate Mandela Day and get the communities involved and share the works of Little Eden. It takes a team to do the work we do and involvement from the community.
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According to Rohrbeck, the interaction they had was about creating an incredible awareness.
“The generosity we received from various corporates that came through to assist us with maintenance, various farming projects, which all contributed to the well-being and the sustainability of the organisation.”
“The residents thrive when they see visitors. There is nothing more enjoyable than socialising, and that’s something we all need, “she said.
Rohrbeck added they don’t take connecting with people for granted after experiencing the Covid-19 pandemic.
“One thing that people don’t know about Little Eden is that once you visit the place, and get to see the smiles and joy, the perception of pity turns into joy and appreciation. It is always wonderful to have people visit on-site.”
Rohrbeck sent out words of appreciation to the corporates.
She said whenever they send out invitations, people receive them with warmth and always show up.
“It is through collective support that we continue this work. It takes financial resources and without the resources, we won’t be able to continue. We appreciate everything.”
Visitors engaged in fun activities with the residents, maintenance work, building a tunnel for the vegetable garden and sorting out donations in the charity shop depot and held braai day, which the residents loved the most.
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Little Eden Society is an NPO that has been providing lifelong care to 300 children and adults living with profound intellectual disability for the past 56 years.
With two locations in Edenvale and Bapsfontein, the organisation offers support services focused on the individual needs of each child and adult in their care.
Helen Barnes, leader of the Flender (Pty) Ltd social responsibility team, said they did some work for Little Eden on Mandela Day.
“We came here to spend the 67 minutes of Mandela Day, while ours is more than that. I don’t think it’s about time, but what you do that counts.
“I came with a few of our employees/volunteers to help with the maintenance of the jungle gym, paintings, and recreating the swings again.”
According to Barnes, the themes of Mandela Day were food, climate and solidarity, which meant ubuntu, and getting together as one.
Barnes said Mandela Day meant to give to the society out there, especially those who cannot do anything for themselves, and Little Eden residents needed a lot of care.
Managing director of Afrox Sebastian Sachtleben said this was his first Mandela Day, as he had just moved to South Africa.
He said it was good for the country to have a special day like this because of the many things that Mandela believed in and the legacy he wanted to hand over to the country.
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“Every day should be a Mandela Day, to progress with developing the country. It is important to have a day where we all think about what we can do differently, to invest in our youth and create a better future for them, We chose Little Eden because we have a strong relationship with them.
“We thought as a management team to contribute and see what else we can do to assist the home,” he concluded.
