In December 2008 East Coast Radio allocated 156 food parcels and 2329 toys for Thandanani to distribute to children supported by the organisation. Every child on Thandanani’s database had a new toy for Christmas. For many of these children it was the first time to be given a new toy of their own to play with. For boys it was a rare break from pushing bricks through dust for a ‘car’, to a real thing. And the girls substituted a mealie cob rapped in old tattered garments for a real doll.

As many as 156 households in dire need of basic food had their pride intact during Christmas as they had ‘enough’ to share with their neighbours as it is a tradition amongst the communities we serve that on the day, people go from house to house to have fun and feast together. Instead of being given without the ability to give, for this time of the year, they were equally able to share with others.

More families were blessed with descent meals as we were enabled to give to others who would have been left out of this assistance as we are always forced to allocate to those families with next to nothing, if not nothing at all. Most children who normally migrate to extended families and abandon their caregivers spent quality time with them knowing that there is ‘enough’ food at home.

On behalf of households who benefited from this, Thandanani would like to express its unreserved gratitude to East Coast Radio and its listeners for making these gifts possible as well as the Pietermaritzburg Rotary Club for facilitating the deliveries to the organisation.