Giving something back
I have mixed feelings about the “social outreach” and “social responsibility” programs that seems to have become a fashionable undertaking for big corporations in South Africa as of late. The gripe that I have with it is that it’s always spinned as “Look at what company X has done” and you’ll see heavy branding in all coverage, it’s really more of a good will marketing campaign than anything else…But the undeniable truth is that there are a group of people, less fortunate than us, that benefits from these efforts immensely, and I was fortunate enough to be part of my wife’s company’s efforts last Saturday. The scene is well known by now, choose an organization, typically in a township, and send a group of volunteers there for the day with tons of gifts and donated goodies to try and make a difference.
We arrived at Berakah in Mamelodi at about 7:30 Saturday morning, high spiritis, truckloads of goodies, and enough energy to feel like we could really make a difference. The idea behind the facility is that all the official schools in Mamelodi are overcrowded, so the kids only get 2 hours per day in the official schools, after which they go to a facility like Berakah to spend the rest of the day, learning more.
The facilities are nestled at the foot of a hill and consists of a single, tattered marquis tent, and a few wooden class rooms, one of them being the creche. General wear and tear are at the order of the day, and negligence apparent due not to laziness, but overall lack of funds and resources really. The organization is about to start building proper brick facilities, and as a result are channeling all their funds into the new permanent structures.
The plan for the day was to have one group of volunteers undertake the DIY mission at Berakah, and at the same time we ship all the kids off in buses to another facility where yet another group of volunteers will entertain the kids for the day with all sorts of fun activities.
Sadly the buses arrived more than 3 hours late, but what was quite amazing to see was how the kids kept themselves entertained the entire time by playing games. It really struck me here how, and please pardon the racial spin, most more-fortunate white kids will whine about the lack of entertainment because they don’t have the latest XBox game, or quad bike etc…
On to the task at hand. The first activity was to plant the donated trees. Immediately the group of volunteers became one in the cause as picks started flying and the earth made way for the new trees that will hopefully provide ample shade in the not so distant futures. Bone meal and compost accompanied the trees into the freshly dug holes to give them a better chance at future growth.
By this time the kids started joining in too happily, and a small crowd started gathering outside in the street to see just exactly what was happening here.
While the men undertook the heavy lifting, most of the ladies explored the donated paint supplies and started with all the outbuildings. Spirits were still high, hands weren’t tender yet, and backs still fresh – something which would change pretty quickly as the day progressed. The coats of paint came quickly and feverishly, and the place was starting to take shape and showing improvement already. By this time there was a record amount of phone calls made to try and organize the buses for this kids which still have not yet arrived.
With the trees planted, the marquis tent got straightened and all anchor ropes fastened. We noticed that the cement floor was really badly worn and promptly made off to the local hardware store for supplies to start patching. This is by far one of the toughest jobs known to mankind. If you’ve ever seen builders mix concrete and thought its an easy task, think again – this is a real back breaker! Filling all the holes in the floor took quite some time, and the myriad of activities continued outside.
By now the buses had finally arrived, and it was overwhelming to see just how excited the kids were. Apparently they were told that they would be left behind if they were late for the buses, so some of them were gathering there from 06:00 AM clothed in utter excitement for the still unknown activities of the day.
The buses arriving late almost killed the overall effect of the day, but the kids still enjoyed it tremendously, which is ultimately all that matters. They all got T-shirts and other goodies to accompany them on the trip, and they were clearly very excited, and appreciative of it all.
By now the place was taking shape, backs were complaining from being bent over and carrying heavy things all day, and my hands, already sporting 2 plasters for donating skin to the tent’s anchor poles were in no mood to dig another hole.
The organisation already have a healthy vegetable garden and active wormery, and more herbs and pot plants were added to the mix.
The creche got completely overhauled with all the donated educational posters, and even a Christmas tree. Tons of toys were added to the existing bunch and I am sure the kids will just absolutely love these!
By now we were all pretty tired and sun burnt, but we all had a pretty good feeling from the day’s efforts. The obligatory braai was lit and boerewors rolls were made to kill the hunger from the day’s intense manual labor.
The place looked a whole lot better. Sure it’s still not a first class facility with the latest and greatest tool, toys or technologies, but what has been done was still being appreciated at a level that most fortunate people will sadly never really understand.
By 15:00 that afternoon we made our ways home, burnt, bruised, sore, tired, but happy. A bunch of people came together for one day and offered their time and their efforts to help people out, and it was a truly rewarding experience, something that I will definitely never forget.
Head over to my flickr set to see the entire collection of pictures taken during the day…
