Sandton Rotary spread their special love beyond Sandton

Rotary Sandton had an eventful week between their meeting on May 21, and their special fun day on May 25, for persons born with learning and mobility challenges.

At their meeting, Rotary Sandton invited Le-Anne Kleynhans from Lungisisa Indlela Village (LIV) in Lanseria. Kleynhans reported back to the club with feedback on the evolution of their Rotary Sandton’s project 512: initiative dating back 20-odd years.

“They built a huge community hall that still really benefits us today, and it’s still making a huge impact in the work that we do today in the community,” said Kleynhans. “A little while ago, one of the Sandton Rotary members came out to our village in Lanseria. He popped in to see how we were doing, and invited me to come and have a chat with the club today.”

Kleynhans, who is also a veterinarian, joined LIV Lanseria six years ago when the village still went by the name of Refile Home – yet still serving the children of South Africa.

Sandton Rotary member and former president Graham Katzenellenbogen said when Rotary Sandton started the project in 2002, the property itself was owned by the Anglican Church on a nine-year lease. Rotary Sandton built the infrastructure for a village capable of cultivating a healthy environment for early childhood development.

“Before we did all this, we were concerned about whom we were going to get to look after this place. Rotary doesn’t run charity in places,” Katzenellenbogen explained.
“We found this group of dedicated people running a little hospice close by. They liked the idea, and that’s when we started developing the idea because we knew that there would be someone to look after this solution.”

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