Students donate beds
Students from the Nelson Mandela University donated thirty new wooden beds to the Bethesda Child and Youth Care Centre on Friday 19 October as part of their community project of reaching out to the needy.
This project is a brainchild of the student Society for Sustainable Timber Management (Systim). More than 35 students from the society worked in their free time to assemble the beds which are made of locally sourced pine wood. The recipients of the beds are Bethesda children aged 4 to 18.
The project was made possible by the generous contribution and support of
MTO and SANParks who provided technical, financial and logistical support to make it a success.
SANParks employees also used their spare time to help process the wood and train students to assemble the beds.
According to Alet van Tonder, manager of communications at the Nelson
Mandela University, Systim is about using the students’ existing skills to serve the community, to facilitate engagement and cultivate an interactive culture among the members of the student community.
Systim chairperson Lisakhanya Ndovela, a masters student in Wood Technology at the university and a pioneer of the project, said the society and the students involved in the project saw this as an ideal opportunity to tangibly demonstrate the uplifting of Mandela’s ethos and values that the university embraces.
“As students of a university that aspires to nurture talent, we realised that a little support or encouragement can make a lasting positive impression in the lives of the children who call Bethesda their home.
“We are delighted at the prospect of the children having brand-new beds to sleep in.
“Certainly, it was constructed with love and we hope that this donation will contribute to the quality of their lives and well-being,” said Ndovela.