A collective effort to nurture lives at the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital

In light of August being Women’s Month in South Africa, the founders of Siyasizana Foundation and of the Ben & Terry Foundation joined heads to see how best they could collaborate in a way that would enable them to give back to local communities.

The women then decided to do a food drive for Londani, which is a shelter in Alexandra that feeds children from disadvantaged backgrounds. These food parcels were delivered on August 21 and on the same day, the women also delivered a donation cheque to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital.

The collaboration was about how the founders, as women, could come together and contribute something meaningful as responsible citizens of South Africa.

The reason behind these non-profit organisations’ donations is to play a part toward the betterment of communities, society, and our country at large. The reason for investing in children’s well-being specifically is because the future of this country lies in their hands.

The founders of these organisations unanimously concur that it makes sense to invest in the future of our country. In the case of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital, since the facility also accommodates patients from our neighbouring countries, this means investing in the future of the Southern Africa Region and African continent as well.

When the NPOs were fundraising and planning to form part of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital’s ‘Serve like Madiba’ campaign, they had a target of R10 000 in mind and through contributions from friends and families, they exceeded that target by R2 000.

Siyasizana Foundation was founded by Mihlali Ndamase and Dineo Nono in 2017, whereas the Ben & Terry Foundation was founded by Mmampe Khumalo and Nsika Nkosi in 2020. Important to highlight that the Ben & Terry founders have been involved with charity projects for many years and only up until recently did they decide to formalise their structures. An example of that is the Ben & Terry’s partnership with the Carl Sithole Children’s Home in Soweto dating back to 2001.

The partnership between Siyasizana and Ben & Terry was a no-brainer to the founders, given the similar focus areas, that is, working with the underprivileged, marginalised and vulnerable groups, but also investing in the future of our nation.

Finally, the founders of the two NPOs urge their colleagues in the NPO fraternity to leverage synergies where warranted, as there is so much power in collaborations. This is a classic example that demonstrates the power of women working together to achieve one common goal.

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