Another Saturday Spent Making a Difference at Bottelary.
We came, we saw, we spread some love!
What a privilege it has been to be able to make a difference in this special community since the official launch of the feeding scheme in October.
Every second weekend, thanks to the perseverance and dedication of Annemi Brand and the Helping Angels crew, we have been lucky enough to have an opportunity to get involved in doing something meaningful with our Saturdays.
In addition to feeding anywhere between 200 – 300 hungry mouths that sometimes might not see another meal all day, activities and classes are held to share a little fun and help the members of these families learn a new skill.
Every second Saturday we hold an informal beading and knitting workshop for the moms of this community, where they get a chance to spend some time perfecting a new skill – or a long lost craft. This weekend we were surprised to see the turnout double, as a new farm in community joined. We’ll be looking for more volunteers to help with this workshop so if you know how to knit, or make pretty things out of beads, we need YOU!
While the moms are beading and knitting, the fathers of the community get together to test their strategic skills in a game of chess or simply let loose and have a good old fashioned game of dominos. We’re also going to be working on a project to help these men earn their drivers licenses to make them employable as drivers. Work is scarce and some of these families survive on less than R1000 a month. More details on the drivers project to follow – give me a shout if you’d like to become involved.
As always, we had a fun art class for the young girls of the community. Previous workshops have included card making , dancing and of course , painting, which always goes down a treat. Some of these kids are really creative and they had a blast getting messy with their paint brushes.
This Saturday the girls took it to a whole new level, deciding to use their waterpaint as face paint too! 
I’d like to send a huge thanks to all the special friends and volunteers who have given of their time and hearts over the past months to come make a difference in this community. These Saturdays have come to mean so much to the families who’s lives we are impacting. Not to mention the impact these families have had on us, the volunteers, too.
Here’s to a blessed festive season and happy new year. See you all in 2011!
Much love,
Storm
Join our Christmas Celebration at the Bottelary Community
Helping Angels invites you to join their Christmas Celebration at Bottelary feeding scheme to celebrate the end of the year and to thank all of their special sponsors that made the feeding scheme possible.
Where: Koopmanskloof farm, Bottelary Road, Kraaifontein
When: Friday, 17 Dec 2010
Time: 09:30 – 14:00
Contact: helping.angels.cpt@gmail.com
We’re looking for volunteers will help with the setup of stage, decoration, packing out of chairs, setup of gazebos, braaing, handing out of food drinks cupcakes, handing out of gits and crowd control.
Come and join as we celebrate the end of successful year and look forward to all the great things 2011 is going to bring!
Can you knit, play chess or like beading? Volunteer on Saturday!
Hello again everyone
Its that time again! We are looking for awesome people to volunteer on Saturday 30 October to help spread some more love at the Bottelary community. Last time was a great success and I’m looking forward to another day meaningful day of fun!
VOLUNTEERING
If you are available to volunteer, please reply indicating which of the following you would like to assist with:
Teaching Chess
Knitting workshop
Beading workshop
Other craft suggestion?
General – select this option if you’d like to volunteer and are happy to help out where needed
FOOD
Fruit. If each volunteer would bring along a bag of fruit each week, we could help ensure these families see some sort of additional nutrition. A bag or two of apples, or a pocket of oranges each will go long way to help providing each of the 220 people with a healthy snack on the day. Let me know if this is something you would be able to do.
Meals. We are also looking for volunteers who would be willing to help donate and prepare pots of cooked food for the 27th of November, 17th December and 8th of Jan. There are 220 mouths that need to be fed at each one of these events, and sadly donations are hard to come by. If you cant make it to one of the events but would like to help out, this is the perfect opportunity.
SUPPLIES
We’re looking for supplies, if you have any of the following and would like to make a donation, let me know
Wool
Knitting needles
Beads and jewelery making supplies
Portable tables – more space is needed to help serve the food and wash up on
GENERAL INFO
Volunteers to arrive at 9.45 / 10 am to begin setting up.
Activities such as chess, beading, knitting etc begin at 10.15 – 11am.
Volunteers are welcome to stay to help serve the meal and help with cleaning up after their 11am session.
Map and directions will be provided.
Let me know how you’d like to be involved! Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday.
Much love,
Storm
Spreading the Love – Bottelray Community Upliftment Project
Wow! What an amazing day! I can honestly say that Saturday exceeded my expectations and I am truly blessed to know the amazing people that gave up of their time this weekend to help a community desperately in need of a little TLC.
The Helping Angels team has started a feeding scheme to help the impoverished community of farm workers in the Bottelray area. Headed up by a real life angel, Annemi Brand, they are providing meals for these families who sometimes wont see another meal that day. In certain heartbreaking cases, not even that weekend. In addition to the feeding scheme, Annemi has put together a program to help teach the kids basic social skills while playing games, getting creative and just generally enjoying some fun time away from the harsh reality of their difficult lives.
On Saturday we were blessed enough to have the opportunity to start an upliftment program for the parents in the community too. It was amazing to see how much they enjoyed having a little time out to learn some new skills, chat a bit and enjoy some “me” time.
The amazing group of volunteers made Saturday such a success. Everyone worked together so beautifully and got stuck in from minute one, teaching, loving, helping, caring and handing out hugs. What a privilege to know these special human beings.
Lynne and her mother had volunteered to help teach the ladies to knit, but were pleasantly surprised to see that there were quite a few experienced knitters in the group who got to clicking those needles straight away, including Adrienne’s awesome gran who came along to help out too.
Marike had the fantastic idea to set up a beading workshop, teaching the mothers how to make earrings, necklaces and all sorts of pretty jewelery. It made their day when they learned that whatever they had made they could take home!
Adrienne, Cindy, Justine, Riaan, Lee Anne and Robyn spent the morning painting outside in the sun with a group of delightful young girls who thoroughly enjoyed naming their groups and swishing their colourful paint brushes!
The men were introduced to the art of chess thanks to the help of Llew, Lee and Gill. We were all surprised by how keen they were to learn and how quickly they got into it. It just goes to show how few recreational activities are available to them, and how much we take everything that is so freely available to us for granted.
One of the highlights was Cindy’s impromptu dance lessons – the kids had an amazing time shaking their little booties to the sounds of Shakira and Freshly Grounds ‘Waka Waka’ – “its time for Africa!” Even some of the moms joined in, loving the moves, loving the love.
A few special mentions go out to Adrienne and Lyn Green Stationers for their donation of stationary and card making supplies, to Cindy for the wool and knitting gear, Ismail for his cash donation, Llew and Gill for the chess boards, as well as Marike for the mammoth donation of beads and art supplies. Its mind blowing how resourceful everyone was, and I thank each and everyone of you from the bottom of my heart.
You can check out the more of the pics on facebook here and if you’d like to get involved, get hold of our Facebook page here.
We’ll be back in two weeks time to spread a little more love. See you then South Africa! xxx
Lyn Green Stationers
Hi friends,
I’m urgently looking for donations for an art project for a community project that we’re organising for next week Saturday at Bottelray as part of an upliftment program for the women of this area.
If you have or can get hold of any of the below, please let me know urgently:
1. Paint in the prime colours: Red, Blue, Yellow and White
2..Paint brushes
3. Old jars – for water
4. Base Paste – to extend the paint
5. Paper (off cuts or rejects which would normally be dumped)
6. Easels
7. Charcoal, pens, crayons
8. Beads and thread
9. Wool & Knitting Needles
Please let me know if you can help? Thank you so much, all your donations and love are always appreciated.
xxx
Storm
PS Please forward this on to all your contacts
CT Volunteers needed: Chess players, Internet Addicts and Bookworms!
My fiance and I recently went to help hand out food and clothing, as well as blankets, at a feeding scheme that is run on a Sunday for the kids and adults that come from the farms in the Bottleray area while volunteering for www.HelpingAngels.co.za.
There were about 120 people, a mix of families, kids and adults that have an income of about R200 per week. They live in abject poverty and the sad reality is that most of the money is spent of booze, because they a lot of them are still being paid according to the “dop system.’
These people walk 5 – 8 kilometers every Sunday just to attend the Sunday school, as this is the only food they will see all weekend! The kids that actually attend school are the lucky ones, and they receive a sandwich a day. The rest, well….
Along with Helping Angles we had a chat with the gentleman who runs the Sunday school and his wife. The said that they are doing everything they can to uplift this community but that the real challenge is finding people who are willing to give up their time to help these kids. They also mentioned that he was looking for people to help, specifically with an adult reading program which would make such a difference. These families are illiterate and its so heartbreaking to see how they live.
I am writing this post because I’d like your help in making a difference in this community. This is the perfect opportunity to do something good for the people who really need our help. I would like to start a reading / literacy program, where we help teach these women to read and impart ANY skills. Sewing, beading, anything that they can use to better themselves and their circumstances. They also mentioned that females are especially important because he knows that many of these girls are being abused, but they dont have females they trust that they can talk to. We could be those people.
At the moment we are looking for volunteers for:
- The Adult Literacy Program: All materials will be provided, you simply need the will to help and some free time one to two times a month. No previous teaching experience needed.
- The Chess Club: If you love chess, and want to help teach some kids the rules of the game, you qualify. Lessons will happen on a Saturday once or twice a month – you decide how often you can volunteer.
- Computer Literacy: We’ll start by teaching basic computer operating skills, then move onto basic internet browsing. If you can read this blog post, you qualify!
- Any other program suggestions welcome: Soccer, Knitting, Beading, Art – if you have a hobby that you’d like to share with this community, let us know. We’re open to ideas!
Any difference we make, will be a mammoth one. Please let me know if you would like to work on doing something even just once a month with this community.
To get involved please leave a comment at the bottom of the page, send a message to Storm Buckingham on Facebook or contact me on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/fem_fatalle.)
Storm
In need a of some good karma? You’ve come to the right place!
Eat your fill from this months selection of daily good deeds and random acts of kindness.
#ActOfKindness : Buy your grandmother a bunch of flowers.
#ActOfKindness Make someone breakfast in bed tomorrow morning.
#ActOfKindness Send an email to an overseas friend you haven’t spoken to in a while, and tell them that you miss them.
#ActOfKindness: Buy an extra bag of apples and keep it in your car. Give it to the next person who asks for change at the robot.
#DailyGoodDeed Join Cheesekids4Humanity to clean up a HospitalWard & give care 2 those that need it most on Sat 8 May http://bit.ly/9nWbrZ
#DailyGoodDeed Donate a pack of sugar to @helpingangelsct for candyfloss at a Boeresport day 4 kids frm the BottelaryFarmProject on 9May
#DailyGoodDeed Join Cheesekids4Humanity, they’re fund-raising for a community of unemployed graduates in Hamanskraal. http://bit.ly/9nWbrZ
#DailyGoodDeed Donate food for the elderly residents of Reyger Court via @HelpingAngelsCT http://bit.ly/9fPTWQ
#DailyGoodDeed Volunteer to teach the ladies of TheCradleOfHope jewellery making skills,empowering them. Gauteng http://bit.ly/cPEo55
If you liked these ideas, follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook to help spread the love.
Peace x
Did you do your good deed or perform an act of kindness this week? Its still not too late – here’s a summary of last weeks ideas get you inspired:
#ActOfKindness: Smile at a stranger today. Its contagious!
#ActOfKindness: When someone makes a mistake today, instead of criticising them, thank them for trying & offer to help.
#ActOfKindness: Save 2,400 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste. @nonprofitorgs @HelpRecycle_com || #EarthDay
#ActOfKindness: Make a surprise cup of coffee for someone in your office today, and deliver it with a smile
#DailyGoodDeed: Donate R100 to http://www.doit4charity.org.za/fundraising/carly.ritz it makes all the difference! Via @JHBChildWelfare
#DailyGoodDeed The DassenbergHorseRescue Centre’s looking for volunteers to come help look after these magnificent creatures. bit.ly/a7kkR7
#DailyGoodDeed Volunteer – Research projects on sharks,whales,seal,Penguins&dolphins at DyerIslandConservationTrust http://bit.ly/d4W1tF
PS: Follow us on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/LetsDoItForSA
Random Acts of Kindness & Good Deeds for the Day on Twitter
You can now get your daily dose of inspiration – Random Acts of Kindness & Good Deeds for the Day - by following us on twitter, and by joining our Facebook Fan page.
Get your good deed for the day on Facebook
Get your daily dose of inspiration on Twitter.
Follow us and join the rest of the South Africans spreading a little love across SA
CT Volunteer Opportunity: Bottelray Project
The Helping Angels CT are arranging a for a day with the children at the Bottelray Project on Sunday 17 April 2010, and volunteers are welcome. They will be serving hotdogs, cooldrinks and spending the day having some fun with these underprivileged little ones by playing games and sharing some love.
Volunteers are welcome to contact Helping Angels for more details by RSVPing to the event or via the contact details on their website.
