Archive for the ‘Friends of the Trust’ Category

An ‘Incredible’ donation

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Thanks so much to Incredible Connection for their donation of two laptop computers for Blomvlei Library. This month four computers has been donated to the library!!!

After the two computers from Andulela Experience, the Library can now work with four computers! This is really great, because we can now set up the resource centre inside the library which will be used by the learners at the school. We also hope to open it up to the broader community in the future and start to give computer training worskshops for adults.

A very BIG THANK YOU to Incredible Connection for their support!

Donation from Andulela Experience

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Monique from Andulela Experience was asked by one of her overseas clients to find a suitable project to donate some computers. After a lot of paper work to clear customs etc Monique managed to obtain two computers which were delivered to Blomvlei Library in Hanover Park on Monday morning. Renshia, our librarian, was waiting at the gate to meet us with such excitment to receive the first computers for the new library !

Now the Library can start to give computer lessons after school hours to the children who have problems with using the computer. But also students who like to work on a project after school hours, now have the opportunity to use the computers in the Library. Thank you so much Monique, your support is greatly appreciated.


Sorry to say it AGAIN, but working together makes sense, with these sort of partnerships we can continue to bring Real, Meaningful and Long lasting change to people’s lives. We encourage everyone in the tourism and hospitality industry to come on board and join us as a Friend of the TCD Trust.

City Sightseeing takes a tour with the TCD Trust

Monday, November 7th, 2011

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On Wednesday morning 02 November I meet with Claus and Christine from City Sightseeing Cape Town outside the aquarium at the V & A Waterfront. As the City Sightseeing buses pulled off to show visitors all the sights of Cape Town we took off in the opposite direction to visit the TCD Trust projects in various disadvantaged areas of Cape Town. City Sightseeing Cape Town is one of our longest standing Friends of the Trust who have continued generously to support the work the TCD Trust does throughout the years. It was a great pleasure and honour to meet Peter and Jill Newman from the UK, Peter is the founder of City Sightseeing franchise.

Our first stop was at Baphumelele in Khayalitcha where we visited abandoned babies who are cared for at the center.Claus was amazed to see how bright and beautiful the nursery is for these children, colourful paintings on the walls of Elephants and animals and each cot equipped with clean and warm blankets. We also visited one of the house mothers who look after a small home which accommodates eight children of different ages. A delicious and warm meal was being prepared in the kitchen by the house mother and a volunteer from Canada read a story to some of the children in their lounge area.A much more noisy greeting meet our visitors at the Educare across the road, screams of delight and laughter rang out from the children who were enjoying a mid-morning snack. The Educare cares for approximately 300 children; this includes children from Baphumelele orphanage as well as children who come from the local community. The TCD Trust continues to support Baphumelele with maintaining the Educare building which was completely renovated by the TCD Trust in 2005.

Rosie’s Soup Kitchen was our second stop on our visit. We received a warm greeting from Rosie who for the past 20 years has provided a bowl of porridge to 200 children on their way to school in the morning. Rosie told us that the children preferred a slice of bread and jam or peanut butter but she knows they need the porridge to keep them strong and healthy. She tells them they can have a slice of bread and jam but they must first eat their porridge. She is a real angel on this earth. Our City Sightseeing guests visited the fully equipped and fitted kitchen which was built for Rosie by the TCD Trust in 2006.


Our final stop was at the new and magnificent library on the grounds of Blomvlei Primary School in Hanover Park. The Headmistress, Dawn Petersen, welcomed our guests with great pride and showed them around the library. Dawn explained that there had been another gang shoot out in the area and an innocent woman bystander was shot and killed. The woman’s body was in full vision on a field across the road from the school, many of the children saw what had happened, and although it was nothing new to them, the level of violence and fighting in the classrooms had escalated dramatically with Dawn having to take two girls from the classroom to hospital. We explained to our visitors how our dream for the library was to give the children a place of safety, learning and inspiration and provide them with the necessary life skills to go beyond their immediate circumstances and find options in life away from drugs and gangs.

Once again we thank City Sightseeing Cape Town from the bottom of our hearts, without your support these projects could not be done or supported by the TCD Trust. You are helping us to bring real, meaningful and long term change to people’s lives, Thank you.

RGG Creche , construction plans begin

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

On the 21 of September we had a meeting with the builder to discuss the contruction plans for the new Wendy House at the RGG Creche in Philippi. At this moment they are already building a classroom for the children, but with the Wendy House they can have the oppurtunity to give the children more space to play and learn at the creche. This will be a safe and warm place for them.

Here you can see the place where the Wendy House soon will be build. At that moment they were discussing the construction plans

Here you can see the play ground area at the creche. It will be nice to clean this place after the Wendy House is build.

Last but not least, the community church and garden with vegetables like patotoes, tomatoes and spinach. It is great that they have this garden, it gives the people some motivation and energy to develop their community.

Blomvlei Primary School celebrates 40 years !

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Tuesday Evening the 27 September we had the privilage of attending Blomvlei Primary Schools 40th Birthday concert. The concert celebrated 40 years of memoirs from 1971 – 2011. The concert opened with pupils walking through a packed Hanover Park Community hall waving South African flags and singing “Heal the world”. The children sang and danced various musical numbers from High School Musical to Moppies / Klop, klop, Safrafina, Nelson Mandela’s Freedom Speech right up to Disco Inferno and Jail House Rock !!!

It was wonderful to be a part of their celebrations and to feel the energy, excitment and enthusiasim of the children, parents and teachers.The concern raised funds for the school and assist parents who cannot afford to pay the school fees.

The children spoke about the highlights of the 21st century from the 70′s to the 2000′s – a very proud moment was a salute from the children to the Trustees and the TCD Trust for their new library which they said was the highlight of the 2000′s for the school. It is moments like that which make us realise how important the work is that the TCD Trust does and how it impacts people’s lives and inspires them to have a better life for themselves.

The concert was a great success and we thank the children, teachers and parents for all their hard work and continued enthusiams for life and making their lives meaningful. Blomvlei Library will grow from strengh to strengh with committed teachers and parents and will hopefully be a highlight for the children at the school for another 40 years !

We are proud to have these companies as Friends of the Trust