Project Winter and the Consciousness of the Well-Provided for the Less Fortunate Article and photos by AB HF Swarts Enquiries: 021 787 4697

A certain liberation fighter wrote and said, ‘the greatest evil in the world is not the poverty of the dispossessed but the unconsciousness of the well-provided’.

Every year for the last four years during the winter season, Saldanha Christian Fellowship (SCF), a combination of Military Academy students, SAS SALDANHA staff members and a few civilians from the surrounding community in partnership with Langebaanweg Christian Fellowship (LCF) from Langebaanweg Airforce base, expressed their consciousness of the less fortunate around them. This is accomplished through an event called, Project Winter, a project in which they give blankets and at times clothes to their selected beneficiaries.

 

During the month of May, SCF approached SAS SALDANHA for donations in the form of old and new blankets, clothes and money if possible to buy new blankets to add to that which SCF and LCF was to give to their beneficiaries.

This year the beneficiaries were kids from Lwemostade Youth Foundation (LYF) from Saldanha, a foundation that seeks to educate surrounding primary and secondary school learners in areas of struggle such as that of mathematics, science and accounting; furthermore they also offer voluntary Bible classes, sports events for team building, art and culture activities, etc.

On the day of the event, held 02 June 2012 at the Saint Andrews Primary School Hall at 10:30 am, approximately hundred new blankets of a value over R136 was collected, of which 60 was bought by SCF and the rest was contributed by LCF and the SAS Saldanha unit.

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In no time kids and parents were flocking in from the community. Worshipers from both fellowships lead by AB B Adams performed a few songs for the audience and the learners were dancing all over the place. This was followed by a speech and motivation from AB HF Swarts, and on completion a chain prayer with the learners in the center was offered by the parents, SCF, LCF and members of the LYF for the success of the learners.

As the event progressed, the chairman (LB Fatuse) of the LYF and his wife expressed their gratitude for what has been done for the learners in their foundation. Then the learners and the parents present was handed the blankets which was intended to express God’s love for them, the consciousness of SCF and partners for the less provided around them, and to keep warm for this rainy winter season in the West coast. Thereafter a parent gave her words of gratitude for the foundation and the fellowships. Then soup and bread was offered as people were to depart.

As SCF we are to this very day grateful for the support given by LCF, the OC (Captain V. Pillay) of SAS SALDANHA and the unit he leads, LYF, Saint Andrews Primary School and every individual that participated in the 2012-06-02 Project Winter. We hope we served as an inspiration for others to do the same or more.