Employees from the National Department of Public Works once again responded to a call to give 67 minutes of their time, tending to those less fortunate.
A group of about 30 employees, mostly from Inner City Regeneration (ICR) and Key Account Management (KAM) Branches, as well as from the Chief Financial Officer’s (CFO) office, forfeited their lunch hour on Mandela Day and spent 67 minutes of their time at the Mohau Children’s Centre in Atteridgeville, Pretoria – a care facility for children who are infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.
The centre is currently home to 38 children, some whom have been abused and neglected by their families due to poverty and many other social ills.
The employees donated to the centre, food items, clothes and toiletries, among other things. They also supplied the children with an afternoon meal and snacks and spent the afternoon tending to the little ones. Adv. Nishi Sharma from the Office of the Deputy Director General: Inner City Regeneration says as a gesture to contribute to the idea of Mandela Day, the staff identified Mohau Children’s Centre because it’s a home for orphaned and abandoned children, some of whom are living with HIV and AIDS and are unable to fend for themselves.
Adv. Sharma added that the employees did not want to simply donate items to the home, but also wanted to take the opportunity to personally interact with the children and experience what it is like at the centre.
Mohau Children’s Centre Manager Ms Ester Jaca says the centre has been battling to provide adequately for the children for the past three months and that the donations such as the ones from the Public Works employees will give the centre a much needed boost. She went on to say she wished every day was a Mandela Day.
Adv Sharma says the experience at the Mohau Children’s Centre left colleagues with mixed emotions. “There was empathy at how ill some of the children are, anger at the irresponsibility of families by not taking care of their own children, sadness at the orphans who have no one to take care of them, compassion as some colleagues are considering fostering and even adopting the children, envy at the staff at the centre who are so effortlessly providing love, attention and care to the children and envy of the children themselves as they are not feeling sorry for themselves, but smiling and enjoying every moment of the way,” explained Adv Sharma.
She says the interaction with the children was short, but colleagues were going back as volunteers and even foster parents to the children. “In essence; irrespective of the challenges and minor obstacles, the smile on the children’s faces when meeting us and receiving our gifts was priceless,” concluded Adv Sharma.
Department of Public Works employees spend their 67 minutes with underprivileged children
