This competition was certainly a massive highlight for Thuthukisa in its first year of establishment! In 2001 we partnered with the Sowetan newspaper, PSL and Pick ‘n Pay to give away a fully-furnished house worth R60,000.00 to a disadvantaged but well-deserving resident, Caiphus Mbatha, with his wife and two children, of the Dube Township. They were absolutely overjoyed seeing an impossibility come true and knowing a tangible change to their future had come.
In 2003, Thuthukisa partnered with the Church Street Outreach in Elandspoort to feed, clothe and educate pre-schoolers through educational workshops. Approximately 400 children have gone through this project and 25 families in thiscommunity were fed on a daily basis by Thuthukisa.
ORPHANED AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN & UPLIFTMENT OF ABUSED WOMEN
Thuthukisa has supported multiple projects for orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) and for the upliftment and empowerment of abused women. These include multiple outreaches to the Church Street Outreach in Elandspoort, New Day Ministry feeding scheme in Lynnwood, the Shelter for Abused Women and Children in Bronkhorstspruit and the Londotanani centre in Venda. The New Day Ministry Feeding Scheme saw multiple families in the Pretoria area receiving a hearty, healthy family meal twice a week for years.
A hundred underprivileged children from Elandspoort were transported from to the Conference and Function Centre at the Boardwalk in Pretoria East where theywere treated to a fun day. They were lavished at this outreach in 2009 with lots of love, fun and a nutritious meal. They were also treated to much needed new shoes, tracksuits and underwear. Many of the children were able to put shoes on for the first time in their life.
In 2009 Thuthukisa secured a Tresemmé Salon sponsorship and collaboration with other sponsors to treat a group of ladies from the Shelter for Abused Womenand Children, to firstly, have their hair done by professional hairdressers at a top Johannesburg salon, and were then treated to a ladies and children’s banquet at a restaurant. Our aim was to come alongside this community, to support them and shower each lady, mother and child with much needed care and love. One ofour Thuthukisa directors also took special time to motivate and inspire the ladies to keep on doing their best as women and mothers. This outreach was a great success and is still talked about today
MAMELODI SOCIETY FOR THE CARE OF THE AGED (MASCA)
Thuthukisa sponsored and supported the Mamelodi Society for the Care of the Aged (MASCA) through providing clothing, blankets, beds, wheelchairs, toiletries, a TV and a DSTV dish. Thuthukisa and a large group of volunteers from Household of Christ church in Pretoria, had great fun sponsoring and organising a Christmas party in December 2011. The team prepared mealie pap, T-bone steaks, chicken and boerewors for the 56 residents of MASCA and their staff. Each person at MASCA also received a fully-loaded Christmas gift pack with food, toiletries and clothing.
Soon after Christmas, Thuthukisa provided ten hospital beds (including one hydraulic bed), three cots, and bedside cupboards in May 2012 as many of the elderly were sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Our team of volunteers also empowered the home to start a self-sustaining vegetable garden for the residents that could be used for food and the rest sold to help generate an income. In 2014, Thuthukisa continued support and donated socks and blankets to MASCA for warmth in winter.
In partnership with Pick ‘n Pay, in 2012, Thuthukisa supported the Bothehadi Nursery and Primary School in Sebokeng, where one hundred disadvantaged Grade R and Grade 1 learners were given school bags, stationery packs and a great supply of non-perishable foods to meet the school childrens’ needs for a sustained period of time.
Thuthukisa, linking hands with Marli Martin from 2010-2015, empowered this safe haven for abused women and children, initially by establishing a strong relationship with the centre, bringing food, toys, clothes, nursery school equipment, stationery, furniture and a television set for the children’s education and entertainment. Our volunteers spent a lot of time caring for the women and children at the centre.
We then took hands with the ladies and planted a vegetable garden, and our sponsors donated chicken cages to provide sufficient food for the women and children and well as to create jobs for them to bring in an income for the centre.
The organically grown vegetables were a source of vitamin intake while the chicken and eggs provided an essential source of protein essential to combat malnutrition in both the mothers and their children. The ladies were trained in gardening and chicken farming with the intent that these skills would increase their employment and entrepreneurial opportunities when they leave the centre.
This ongoing project started in 2013 and partners with Household of Christ church in Mooikloof, Pretoria, where every Sunday, we feed between 100-150 children who attend this church from surrounding areas and further afield namely, Mooikloof, Mooikloof Ridge, Pretorius Park, Garsfontein, Morelettapark, Lynnwood Ridge, Die Wilgers, Mamelodi, Nelmapius, Soshanguve, Kagiso, Krugersdorp, Attridgeville, Rustenburg and more! Thuthukisa, Household of Christ and it’s volunteers sponsor and provide the children with a nutritious home-cooked meal, accompanied by a fresh fruit. For many of these children this is the only meal of the day, and the only nutritious meal of the week. We cannot afford to fail them. We believe that no child under our care should go hungry. Every child should be loved, protected, should find belonging and be provided for when with us on a Sunday! This project has brought hope to many families and children attending services at Household of Christ.
Thuthukisa began working with a group of 20 ladies at a care centre for women with mental disabilities in the Pretoria area in September 2016. The majority of the ladies do not have family members that visit them and so a small team of Thuthukisa volunteers visited the ladies weekly, and because of our doners, we provided fresh fruit, vegetables, tinned food, toiletries and household items to the ladies weekly.
Thuthukisa purchased and installed equipment needed in the house as well as kitchen utensils, bedding, curtains, clothes, crockery and Bibles to ensure a better quality of life for the ladies to assist their recovery. We did weekly activities with the ladies including singing, decoupage, personalised bracelets and teddy bears, Christmas tree decorations, reward trees, chalk boarding, we served them lots of healthy food, a wonderful Christmas party, new clothes and so much more.
Thuthukisa initiated a corporate sponsorship program to help raise the much needed funding for the group of ladies. Old Mutual partnered with Thuthukisa to purchase kitchen equipment, a tumble dryer and a washing machine, as up until then all washing had to be done by hand.
We had 2 TV’s donated to the ladies care centre. We installed both TV’s in August2016. The ladies watched educational programs as a medium of entertainment and recreation. Concurrently we also installed a satellite dish.
This ongoing effort in 2016 and 2017 was a great success. We cannot be more grateful to every sponsor and individual who came together to support this home, bringing support to the physical, medical and emotional needs of these ladies, to restore dignity back into their lives. We believe the role Thuthukisa played made a significant difference to a brighter future for each lady and the care-givers!
Thuthukisa took a wonderful morning together with the Riverside Frail Care Center where our lovely guests got spoilt with care packs, a wonderful party, Christmas carol singing, groceries, toiletries. One of our sponsors gave the care centre bags of groceries, cleaning products and spoils for the house! Thank you everyone for your generous giving: Spar Grootbrak, Chicken on a Hill, ACDP, Living Life Ministries, Kitchens 4 Living and so many individuals who gave towards this Thuthukisa outreach.
Thuthukisa joined hands again with some incredible sponsors and partners who went to spoil the “Mooiuitsig Creche” mothers who have children with special needs. These moms got awesome care packs, groceries, spoils, handbags, we sang and danced and just had an uplifting time together!
Thank you to so many incredible sponsors and generous givers: Spar Grootbrak, Chicken on a Hill, ACDP, Living Life Ministries, Kitchens 4 Living and so many individuals who gave towards this outreach. We are grateful to make a positive impact in our communities!
This incredible home, Heneke Haven, taking on a vital role in our immediate community, has been on Thuthukisa’s radar for many outreaches to date in 2019and 2020, receiving care packs, food, toys and especially spending time with the children at Heneka Haven. Our sponsorship also allowed us to spoil the house mother and each care giver too. The children live with severe disabilities and terminal conditions, some having been abandoned at birth, others removed by social workers from unhealthy family environments to ensure a better quality of life. Thuthukisa is grateful to every sponsor linking up with us in caring for these children
In 2019, Thuthukisa sponsored a fun Christmas party for this home in Tembisa who care for differently abled children with special needs. We were able to sponsor care packs including toys/toiletries/food and clothes as well as gift packsfor the care givers. Much fun and good food was had by all!
Over Christmas 2019, the VIVA Foundation in Mamelodi suffered a great loss when their premises was broken into and ransacked of nearly everything they have worked to build up for their community. Thuthukisa and its team of doners immediately jumped into action and met this need in under 2 weeks, restoring over R100,000.00 worth of school equipment, desks, chairs, kitchen equipment, an industrial gas stove, food, non-perishables and so much more! This was a memorable day for Thuthukisa and Household of Christ who celebrated the VIVA Foundation on the hand-over of all their new spoils.
In early 2020 Thuthukisa travelled to Krugersdorp to link hands with the Light Centre for Children with Disabilities (24-Hour Care) who provide permanent care facilities for children with severe disabilities over 2 premises. Our sponsors madeit possible for Thuthukisa to provide care packs including nappies, adult nappies, clothes, non-perishable foods, medical supplies, toys and much more. On the dayof the outreach, the Thuthukisa volunteers specifically spent time with each child, to care, love and play! We reach out to others in need and always leave with such full hearts. What a privilege it is to give into the lives of others who cannot give anything back!
Thuthukisa geared up during the Covid-19 pandemic and lock down to provide hunger alleviationparcels, financial and social need support for many families in our communities and across our network who were, and some still are, desperately affected by Covid-19. Being able to be a part of the global Covid-19 relief efforts is an ongoing privilege and we are grateful for every sponsor who is making this possible!