All you Santas, put a smile on kids’ faces for this Christmas
HELP Mustadafin Foundation put smiles on the faces of vulnerable children and orphans this festive season.
“Every child deserves a happy, healthy childhood and the opportunity to build a brighter future. Let’s share the blessings by giving special educational gifts to children in need,” says Ghairunisa Johnstone-Cassiem, director of Mustadafin Foundation.
Child poverty is one of the hardest things to observe.
When considering the Western Cape alone, orphans and vulnerable children are faced with numerous challenges such as high levels of poverty, living in child-headed households and suffering from trauma associated with drug and alcohol abuse, gangsterism and crime.
According to statistics*, South Africa has over three million orphans. Mustadafin Foundation has taken up the battle to protect these children by establishing programmes that help reduce the rate of poverty in communities and improve their lives in practical ways.
For the past 31 years, the Mustadafin Foundation has distributed and hosted Christmas lunches for sick children at Red Cross Hospital and for disadvantaged communities in Mitchell’s Plain, Brooklyn, Khayelitsha and many other parts of the Western Cape. This year the organisation will also be helping children from Grabouw, a farming community notorious for its extreme poverty and high unemployment rate.
The Mustadafin “Toy and Stationery Drive” aims to assist 1 000 orphans and vulnerable children this year. By giving toys and stationery gifts to children, it will ease the financial pressure put on poor households to purchase essential school items at the start of the new school year.
“We hope to distribute toys and stationery gifts to 500 children in Tafelsig, 200 in Grabouw, 100 in Khayelitsha, 50 in Hanover Park, 50 in Manenberg and 100 in Delft,” says Johnstone-Cassiem.
Support the Toy and Stationery Drive by donating new, wrapped or unwrapped gifts for children who might not otherwise receive a gift.
“Unwrapped gifts will be wrapped and distributed to children between the ages of 3 and 16 years old. Gifts can be dropped at 30 Turfhall Road in Lansdowne. Arrangements can be made for large quantities of gifts to be collected,” mentions Johnstone-Cassiem. Gift ideas
0-5 years: dolls, teddy bears, baby clothes, bath toys, nursery rhymes, puzzles, action figures, books, colouring sets, pencils, crayons.
6-9 years: educational toys, stationery (colouring sets, books, crayons, school sets), puzzles, word searches.
9-12 years: games and toys, stationery, books, clothing, scarves, hats.
13-16 years: books, gloves, scarves, hats, school shirts, toiletries.
To partner with this initiative and find out how you can donate or for more information about Mustadafin Foundation, contact 021 633 0010 or WhatsApp on 079 567 3645 or visit www. mustadafin.org.za
*https://www.unicef.org/southafrica/protection_6631.html Winet Fourie On behalf of the Mustadafin Foundation