Less TALK and more ACTION
For most children, Christmas is a time of family, vacations, favourite foods, familiar songs, and - most of all - presents, presents, presents. There are some children, however, that don’t have the same claim to these luxuries. Some, even, who don’t lay claim to a traditional family of their own.
Luckily for a group of 50 children in the Cape Town informal settlement of Nyanga, there is a place they can call home, and a group of people they can call their family. Emasithandane Children’s Project - better known as “Emasi” - is a place of shelter for orphaned and vulnerable children, set up with the loving care of Mama Zelphina Maposela.
Despite a lack of stable funding, Emasi – with the help of some dedicated volunteers and generous hearts – has grown from its humble beginnings when it housed only three AIDS orphans. Today, besides the 25 children who live there, Mama runs a day-care centre and communal feeding kitchen for an additional 25 children.
When TEAMtalk - British Sky Broadcasting and Apurimac Media staff visited the project in November 2007, they were touched by the children’s excited eyes, wide glorious smiles, and youthful energy. The passion of the home’s administrator Hazel, as well as the other part-time caretakers, was also truly inspiring, and the staff left knowing that they needed to help make a difference in any way they could.
Since that day, the company’s arranged a Christmas drive for Emasi in the spirit of the season. This included a collection box, where staff donated any unused items from around the home; as well as a Secret Santa initiative where staff had to purchase an educational toy/game/clothing to place in Father Christmas’ sack for the big day.
The Big Day
What do you get when you combine Father Christmas, ten elves, three cars full of toys, clothes, party packs, cupcakes, groceries, and Happy Meals with 50 orphans in the informal settlement of Nyanga? You get an enormous Christmas celebration!
On Tuesday, December 18, the children of the Emasithandane Children’s Project were treated to the party of the year when TEAMtalk - British Sky Broadcasting and Apurimac’s staff members visited their home, laden with goodies.
Despite the heat, the dust, and incredibly cramped living quarters, the children and volunteers at Emasi threw themselves wholeheartedly into the celebrations: painting and decorating Marie biscuits, playing dancing games, and taking snaps on Santa’s knee.
Even more importantly, friendships were formed between the youngsters and the TEAMtalk and Apurimac Christmas Crews - a bond that will have lasting impact and meaning for future projects with the orphanage.
According to UNAIDS, there are 40 million orphans – 12.5 million who are living with AIDS - in sub-Saharan Africa. Many of these, even those lucky enough to have the support of projects like Emasi, are also living with the realities of violence and gangsterism, as well as malnutrition and lack of education as a result of poverty.
“Almost throughout sub-Saharan Africa, there have been traditional systems in place to take care of children who lose their parents for various reasons. But the onslaught of HIV slowly but surely erodes this good traditional practice by simply overloading its caring capacity by the sheer number of orphaned children needing support and care." - Bjorn Ljungqvist of the United Nations Children Fund
TEAMtalk - British Sky Broadcasting in conjunction with Apurimac Media recognises this dire situation, and the importance of projects like Emasithandane. The companies hope that initiatives such as the Christmas drive can help ease the burden on care-givers, who try to make the festive season a special time for the orphans.
In addition to the Christmas treats and presents, the company – along with generous donations from Apurimac Media – has secured a new fridge for the home, as well as a television set and games console.
The spirit of the season is to give to those who have nothing. While the children of Emasithandane may not have traditional families, nor the facilities and opportunities that other children have – and while they might know more pain and loss than many know in a lifetime - their eyes and smiles speak of hope. TEAMtalk - British Sky Broadcasting is proud to be part of the reason behind this hope.
