As we are heading towards the festive season. We get excited by the upcoming warmth brought by longer sun light, the time off our busy schedules, the children off school and the family gatherings. We forget about the winter we experienced just a while ago, and we forget about the hands that kept us warm during those cold times. We forget about the hands that made sure we took our cough mixtures even when we didn’t feel like taking it.

For most of us these hands are the hands of our family members and relatives. For the ‘normal child’, it the mother and father’s hands that takes care of them when they are in need. However for most communities we serve, children are not taken care of by the parents. They have caregivers; they have guardians and foster parents. These adults in their lives rely on service providers like Thandanani for guidance to make ends meet. Thandanani also rely on the larger community to deliver it services.

Thandanani practises a holistic approach in addressing social issues facing our communities. One of the areas of our holistic approach is making sure that the material wellbeing of the children is met. In some cases where the lack of basic and essential materials undermines and threatens the children’s wellbeing, Thandanani intervenes and provide such essential material. During this year’s winter, Thandanani was lucky to have several types of donations in-kind that were most needed during this period.

Imperial Hotel (in Pietermaritzburg) kindly donated 50 single beds, 50 sheets, 50 pillows and their cases and 20 chairs that were distributed amongst the most needy households in Pietermaritzburg.

 Vodacom through Rotary Club kindly donated 1000 blankets that were distributed in both Pietermaritzburg and Richmond communities.

Community Chest kindly donated 75 form mattresses which were donated to the neediest children in the Richmond communities.

Over and above these winter donations, Thandanani also distributed clothing items we had in our donations storeroom which included jerseys, jackets, track-suit, dresses and etc for both children and their caregivers.

We would like to thank each and every person that directly and indirectly contributed towards making this year’s winter a warmer one.