An Awesome Afternoon

17 July 2023

After many days of emails, phone calls, and preparations, Nelson Mandela Day arrived, with a local Mall certainly living up to the wishes of Nelson Mandela, who said, “Together as a nation, we have the obligation to put sunshine into the hearts of our little ones. They are our precious possessions. They deserve what happiness life can offer.” Through many stores’ generosity, kindness, and blessings, the Mall “put sunshine into the hearts” of some of the neediest children within our community, and made it a day they will remember for a long time.

The Hlanganani children had permanent smiles on their faces as they rode on the bumper cars and then enjoyed some yummy pizza, rice, chicken, and sweets as well as the wonderful games provided. They were also gifted with huge bags of goodies (clothes, food, etc); it was truly “Christmas in July” for them.

It was beautiful to see the older girls sing a lovely worship song in acapella and then over forty voices raised together as the children sang the national anthem in honor of the day. Once the event ended, we began driving the children home…slowly through the rough dirt terrain, trash-filled and rat-infested streets back to their tin shacks. A reminder for us that there is still so much more work to be done. But for today, we will celebrate the fact that they had an afternoon of fun and extra special treats, such as pizza!