Muldersdrift hotels observe Mandela Day

Thursday 18 July was a very special day for all South Africans who celebrated international Mandela Day by devoting 67 minutes of their time – one minute for every year of Mandela’s public service – to doing good.

The management and staff of many of the Muldersdrift hotels embraced the opportunity.

Jannis Rodrigues, Project and Systems Manager for Valley Lodge & Spa with Robert Tshabalala visited Orient Hills Daycare, where they delivered two huge pots of steaming hot soup and rolls with the help of the pre-school pupils from Woodland Preparatory School. A team from Mount Grace, headed by General Manager Nelson Rodrigues also joined the celebrations and helped with the food. The hotels assisted with transporting the pupils to the daycare so they could assist with handing out the meal. The ingredients for the soup were sponsored by the teachers and parents of the children who attend Woodland Preparatory School. Rodrigues confirmed that the leftover soup was distributed amongst the elderly living in the area.

Trevor d’Oliviera and his team from Avianto delivered soup and rolls to 900 young children at Lesego Primary School. The staff left at 6am so that they could welcome the first children arriving at 7am.

Christa Badenhorst, marketing manager for Guvon, said their group had been very active, hosting a special Mandela Day celebration for conference delegates. Afterwards they headed to the Salvation Army to drop off clothing, linen and other items that the group had collected during the previous month.

The ladies from the Muldersdrift Business Women’s Association were also hard at work. The strong focus for these energetic, enterprising businesswomen was to assist Matla a Bana, an organisation that has had a direct impact on and success with over 20 000 physically abused children.

The women went to Heia Safari Ranch, the host venue in the morning to assemble and pack so-called Comfort Rape Packs for the young girls in the Mogale City district who have fallen victim to rapists. The ages of these girls range from four to 12 years.

The packs were donated to the Muldersdrift Police Station for their victim-friendly room. “These packs, handed out by the police detectives, have resulted in quick disclosure by the victims. This in return has resulted in quick arrests and much quicker medical assistance (including ARVs) to victims.” The toys and sweets in the packs provide some comfort to these youngsters.

Finally Community Ministries were treated to a welcome surprise when Highway Homes took on the challenge to erect a large container in 67 minutes. The team managed to rig the entire container in just 65 minutes, and this will be transported to the church and used as a Centre of Adult Education on Saturday mornings and as a homework/computer centre for children of the area in the afternoon. Prime Access Security kindly provided the security.

Sam Ngoma, Community spokesperson for the Muldersdrift Communication Action Group, said it was wonderful to see so much support from the community. He reiterated the importance of trying to make every day a Mandela Day. “If we all just find some small way to make a difference in the lives of others on a regular basis, we will start building better communities and lead the way in the ongoing fight against hunger and poverty.