Another great Mandela week – thanks to you!

Another great Mandela week – thanks to you!

Grateful thanks to everyone who volunteered, visited or donated to help make Mandela Week 2019 unforgettable!

We started the week with the Gogos from Issey Geshen Old Aged home, who shared stories and gave out handmade soft toys for our little ones.

The Glenwood High School 1st Rugby team showed us their talent off the field when they helped us clean, paint and setup our laundry room.

Companies such as Lee-Chem Laboratories, Wits Health Consortium and Accenture Operations helped give various areas of our Centre a facelift with general cleaning and painting. We also received an overwhelming contribution of non-perishable food items and wishlist items from individuals, schools and corporates. A big thank you to you all!

Special thanks to Dr. Nkosinathi Shabalala for spending 67 minutes with us! Our Siyakhula Group enjoyed your informative talk and were truly grateful for your free consultation.

On Tuesday, 16 July we hosted our very own Corporate Amazing Race Challenge as part of our Mandela Week Programme. Facilitated by Beach and Bush Teambuilding as part of their CSI initiative, the event encouraged corporates to assist with maintenance projects around the home, whilst raising funds towards the care of our children and youth.

Teams of four enjoyed a day of fun team-building activities and low impact maintenance projects such as gardening and painting. Participants were from the following companies:

  • Pro Print (Pty) (2 teams)
  • EBM-PAPST
  • Accenture Operations
  • Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd (6 teams).

Tasks were completed in a rotation format and teams were judged on their thoroughness of completing the projects. The top three winning teams were : 1st Place – Pro Print, 2nd Place – Astron Energy and 3rd Place – EBM-PAPST.

We are grateful to our sponsors on the day, who included The Barnyard Theatre – Suncoast, Chateau Gateaux, Waltons Glenwood, Stella@Glenwood, Innovative Methology, KZN Athletics Club, Deals on Wheels and Beach and Bush Teambuilding Company.

Collectively all ten teams that participated helped us give three of our cottages a facelift, developed ten mini gardens with creative settings and painted 40 bright and colourful tyres for our obstacle course. Through the entry fees, they helped us raise some much needed funds for our care programmes!

This event was a success only through the amazing support and charitable spirit of all our participants and sponsors for the day. Thank you!


Pictured above are the winners, Pro-print and runners up Astron Energy. Third place went to the team from EBM-PAPST (below).

Message from the Director

Message from the Director

Over the past few months the DCYCC has been a hive of activity. It has been an incredibly busy time with much happening. Along with the daily demands of providing holistic care to 82 children, we have also had to contend with some unexpected, and in some cases extraordinary, challenges that have stretched us as never before. There were many times when we were keenly aware that God’s grace had carried us through the day.

Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity’’. However, recognising opportunity when confronted by difficulties is easier said than done! Fortunately, DCYCC has over time, developed a team of people with the ability to hold steady at the peak of the storm, recognise the opportunity within the challenge and press forward with new learning.

Our children coped admirably during this time, completing the 2nd term of the 2019 academic year and participating in a myriad of activities. Without realising it, they encourage us to keep focussed on our mission.

When one pauses to consider the mammoth obstacles they have faced and continue to face on a daily basis, one cannot but be both encouraged and humbled by their courage. So we look to the remainder of the year with a resolve to focus on the possibilities.

NACCW 22nd Biennial and 4th CYC-Net World Conference

NACCW 22nd Biennial and 4th CYC-Net World Conference

From 2-4 July, 2019, the National Executive Committee of the South African National Association of Child Care Workers (NACCW) and the Board of Governors of CYC-Net hosted their 22nd NACCW Biennial Conference and the 4th CYC-Net World Conference at the Durban ICC.

Our Director, Mandy Goble, along with 25 of staff members and two young people were given the wonderful opportunity to attend the conference. They joined local, National and International delegates enjoying a spirited professional experience, which blended diverse child and youth care work experiences from across the globe with engagements on practice, programmes and child and youth care work policy in a city renowned for summer days all year round!

Going for Gold

Going for Gold

At the end of June, 12 of our young people attended a 4-night camp hosted by the Presidents Award. The theme for the camp was “Service”, which was  part of a Residential Project.

Our young people, who achieved their Silver Awards last year, participated in various tasks during the camp which were required to advance to their Golden Level award.

Zumbathon – fun, fitness and fundraising

Zumbathon – fun, fitness and fundraising

Our Zumbathon fundraising dance party took place on 1 June 2019, and was a huge success!

A total of 35 friends and supporters turned up to dance their way to fitness. Special thanks to Robert Pucci, Zumba Instructor, and his colleagues for their time, effort and commitment to making a difference in the lives our young people!

The event raised R2 100,00 towards our care programmes – and our young entrepreneurs generated a further R410,00 from selling their crafts.

Thank you to all the participants for their kind and generous support. We are truly blessed to know that there are wonderful people in our community who really care about the welfare of our children!