Zoe Lau:
On Saturday 18 February 2023, foundation phase pupils at Rustenburg Girls’ Junior School, Ayesha and Nabiha January, Zaria Naidoo, Saffiyah Mohamed, Nuha Sayeed, and Amira Khan, raised over R20 000 for the Turkey-Syria earthquake where the death toll is over 50 000, and every little bit of help counts. All of the money was donated to the Gift of the Givers and will be used to help the victims of the earthquake.
With the help of their families, the girls were able to produce over R20 000 by having a cake sale in collaboration with the Fancy Pantry, along with many donations made to their cause. Dr. Naeem Kathrada, Western Cape’s Head of Medical for Gift of the Givers said “If kids at this age can start thinking of others less fortunate than them…it will make a big impact.” Dr. Kathrada hopes that this is the start of many more acts of kindness, locally and internationally.
Rustenburg’ Girls’ Junior school theme for the year 2023 is “Impembelelo”, which means impact. Haleema January said that she and the other parents had planned to do monthly initiatives with their children, and started with the crisis in Turkey and Syria. The parents of the girls were proud of the effort that their daughters made to spread the word of what they were doing and because of that, many donations were made. Salma Mohomed, Nuha’s mother, said that the cause hit close to home for her because there were children and parents involved. She encourages people to donate to Gift of the Givers because they are “very transparent” and “always there to serve”.
Amira Khan, in Grade 3, said, “I think it’s a good thing not to only think about ourselves and think about everyone around us.” While having fun at the bake sale, the girls all knew about the cause they were working for. Gift of the Givers’ motto is: “Best among people are those who benefit mankind” and Dr. Kathrada thinks that the girls are a few of those people. The whole of Rustenburg is extremely proud of these girls. As Dr. Naeem Kathrada said, “It all starts at home”, so no matter who you are, whether you are young or old, you can make a difference in someone’s life.
