This Mandela Day, will you choose to #DoSomething?

â€œWhat counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we leadâ€
Nelson Mandela

As we pay tribute to the late Madiba on his birthday, 18 July, South Africans come together to make a difference in the life of others by spending at least 67 minutes doing good.

This year, choose to #DoSomething by supporting Yenzani. Here are five ways you can help us:

1. Pay us a visit, have tea with us and find out about what we do

Join us at Yenzani on Saturday 18 July anytime between 9am and 3pm. We'd love to make you a cup of tea or coffee and tell you more about what we do. We can also explain our volunteering opportunities and ways that you can get involved. If you'd like to bring us a donation (cash, vouchers or goods are very welcome and much appreciated!), we can share our wishlist with you in advance.
*Please advise us if you are planning on coming by emailing me, particularly if you have a group of eight or more people who would like to attend together, so we can make sure we can cater for you.

2. Make a donation

Your financial support enables us to continue taking care of the children at Yenzani. Whether you'd like to donate R67, R670, R6700 or any amount at all, we'd really appreciate it. You can make a direct donation through our secure online portal or use our bank details below. Donations of goods and services (particularly vouchers!) are also welcome. For some ideas on what we most need, please see our wishlist below. If you'd really like to make us smile, consider taking our R200 challenge and committing to donating R200 every month to us.

3. Tackle a home improvement project for us

Like all homes, the Yenzani house has a few DIY projects that arise once in awhile and we'd appreciate your support in getting them done - either via sponsorship or taking on the project yourself (or with your team). Here's what's on our to-do list at the moment:

A plumber to connect our Jojo rainwater collection tank for use when we have no water (which is currently often due to municipal pipe upgrades and repairs)
Paving two areas of our playground at the house
Raising the boundary wall to improve the security of the property

Please drop me a line if you are able to assist with any of these.

4. Become a Yenzani Activist

What's a Yenzani activist? It's anyone who is actively seeking to raise funds for Yenzani, whether you're planning on climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or getting your friends and family to sponsor you to take on a dare. If you're not super sporty or daring, you could always donate your birthday to Yenzani. Simply ask people to make donations to us in lieu of giving you birthday gifts. You can create your own Activist profile and accept and track donations via Givengain. To see an example, check out Harry's 60th Birthday Project, which raised over R12 000 for us.

5. Go shopping

You can earn cash for us every time you shop at Woolworths, fill up at Engen or do your back-to-school run at Waltons. Just sign up for a MySchool card (or add us as a beneficiary on your existing MySchool or Woolworths card â€“ you can have up to three beneficiaries) and weâ€™ll get a donation every time you shop, at no extra cost to you. Get a MySchool Card today or add Yenzani as a beneficiary to your Woolworths card.

If you have any other ideas on how you'd like to get involved or questions about the above, please do give me a shout! I'd love to hear from you.

Regards,
Sanne Mirk, Yenzani Founder
sanne@yenzani.org

YENZANI CHILDREN'S HOME BANKING DETAILS:
NEDBANK; RIVONIA
BRANCH CODE: 196 905
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 1969 176113

A few notes on a sensitive subject...

At Yenzani, we believe that just because a child has been abandoned, abused or neglected doesn't mean he or she should be treated as a second-rate citizen. In fact, the opposite is true. Children with a traumatic past need lots of extra love and care, which is why we strive to provide the best possible home environment, education, medical attention and opportunities to the precious children entrusted to us.

We treat each one as we'd hope to be treated, or how we'd like our own children to be treated. Our focus is on protecting our kids, so please bear in mind the following:

Because of the abuse many of our kids have suffered, we have a policy of not leaving them unattended with anyone who is not on the Yenzani staff. Please don't take offence!
Kindly refrain from posting photos of the Yenzani children on social media without first running them by us. While our kids are very photogenic and we know it's tempting, please understand that we need to protect our children and respect their dignity too.

Donations

While we appreciate and deeply value all support, there are some things that we need more urgently than others, and a few things that we are fortunate to have in abundance, which means that we have no need for them. Here are a few examples:

What we would find most useful

Donations of cash
Vouchers for food and cleaning goods, particularly for Pick n Pay
Vouchers for Dischem (which we use for our children's medication and toiletries)
Clothing vouchers (Edgars, Woolies, Mr Price, etc.)
Items on our July wishlist (please see below)
Increased awareness - please help us to attract attention to what Yenzani does by following us and interacting with us on social media (see below) or in the press

What we DON'T currently need
While these items may be of huge value to other charities, at Yenzani we are currently not in need of:

Blankets
Baby clothes and baby food
Toys
Used office equipment and furniture
Used beds and furniture
Fast food or cooked meals

We are blessed not to need these things at present, and would encourage you to make donations of the above items to charities who are better able to use them.

Well done to the two winners of our May / June induction stove cooker competition, Ingrid Prinsloo and Shirley Coetzee, who each donated over R100 before 25 June to qualify for the draw!

Some of our kids show off their stylish new threads, donated by Mr Price Foundation, as they take a peep at what's being prepared for dinner. Thanks, so much, Mr Price!