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Naval College Celebrates Madiba’s 94th
Birthday
Article and photos by LS T.Bouks Mathodlana
Enquiries: 021 787 4697 |
It felt like just the other
day when the kids of Temperence Town Primary School and
the Helderberg Animal Welfare were visited by Naval
College midshipmen and staff working their 67 minutes
dedicated to a true legend of our time. uTata Madiba’s
94th birthday wish was to see everybody working and
contributing towards helping the disadvantaged and less
fortunate.
Ikhayalethemba Village
(home of hope), situated in the Heart of Lwandle (north
of Strand), is a home to 32 children from unstable
backgrounds, mostly growing up in abusive families, poor
and an undisclosed amount of Aids orphanages adopted by
the founder of the Village Mama Lumka in 2004.
Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela from SA Naval College
On 18 July, the locals of
Lwandle rose with excitement to see men and women in
uniform as they thought the Open Day came too early this
year, instead it was for another good course. Trucks
filled with equipment and workmen’s utilities, busses
with over 100 members from SA Naval College came with
fully-charged batteries to work their 67 minutes at
Ikhayalethemba Village.
The day began with a
welcome note by Chaplain Gwazilitye on behalf of Mama
Lumka by introducing the staff of the Village to the
visiting navy staff. As sad as she shared a brief
history of how Ikhayalethemba became a real place of
hope since 2004, she really is a true pillar of strength
for the Village. There were even times were she had to
carry the children with the wheel barrow to and from the
clinic. She managed to raise enough awareness to the
many surrounding communities even international medical
institutions also volunteered their assistance from time
to time to keep the Village as effective as possible for
the children from the surrounding community. The
Ncedolethu Sanctuary Trust continues to make a
significant difference in the lives of the 20 children
that the village caters for on a full time basis. The
Educare Centre that was started by Mama Lumka still
provides a safe haven for +/-65 pre-school children 5
days a week. The Village is currently short-staffed as
it is purely reliant on volunteered teams from different
organisations for short-term periods. This shortcoming
continually creates a need for external resources for
the Village’s maintenance department.
The “handy-men” of SA Naval
College arrived at a perfect time especially after a
weekend of a cold-front that left most areas of the
Village with an unpleasant sight to come across. The
Staff and Midshipmen started by cleaning the two
vegetable gardens and upgrading the patches ensuring
that the Village could continue to feeding the kids with
healthy fresh vegetables during this cold season.
Fire wood was also chopped
and supplied for another week of fire-cooking. and the
braai and food lapa areas were also given a thorough
clean-up. Additional seats were made and fitted on the
spot by the unit’s shipwright section, the roof of the
Lapa was painted to complement the Lapa’s woodwork.
Three of the four houses where the children sleep were
also painted as requested by Mama Lumka
The Playground was revamped
by adding a few bags of sand to return it to its
original state. Some of the needs attended was to erect
new washing lines, as this season’s washing load has
undoubtedly doubled than the normal amount.
Meanwhile, the ‘motherly’
staff of the College offered assistance with feeding and
spending time playing with the children. How special it
was to see the children of the Village overwhelmed. One
of Mama-Lumka’s wishes was to finish building the
Village’s own bakery by the end of this year’s winter.
With more than 67 minutes
exceeded, a fun-filled day was spent in an unforgettable
manner. The mark left at the Village touched Mama Lumka
so deep that she couldn’t help anticipate the next visit
from SA Naval College.
The ending was presented by
the Training Commander of SA Naval College, Cdr K.G
Mahlombe to the staff of Ikhayalethemba Village, handing
over donations contributed by members of the College.
Donations included blankets, toys, grocery and clothing
for the children at the village. Mama Lumka kindly asked
the staff to ‘hangout’ and hand over gifts to the
children one more time as the children were really
humbled and excited to see so many men and woman in
uniform sharing the love they always wished for.
Before and after
They say charity begins at
home, indeed Mandela Day has emphasized the meaning of
community work, so unifying and diverse, and a day one
can live for.
The same wheel-barrow that Mama Lumka used to deliver
children to and from the clinic
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