In honour of Nelson Mandela and in the spirit of giving, Nal’ibali took part in various activities throughout July, that were dedicated to making a positive change in vulnerable children’s lives and their education.

Mandela once said, ‘It is in your hands to make our world a better one for all,” and with this in mind, the Nal’ibali Cape Town team decided to give their attention this year to a very particular group of vulnerable children, who have been chronically abused and neglected. 

The Homestead for Street Children, is a non-profit organisation that helps street children reconstruct their lives by offering intervention and prevention services to children and families in disadvantaged communities. The Nal’ibali team decided to reach out to this very marginalised group of children and donated 320 exercise books and 200 isiXhosa newspaper supplements to Homestead in Strand Street. This initiative was carried out in line with Nal’ibali’s mission; to promote reading for enjoyment in mother tongue languages.

Julia Michael, the PA to the director at the Homestead, said that the children prefer to read in their own languages, but it was difficult to find books written in isiXhosa. She was excited to be able to offer the children reading materials in their mother tongue. “The children will enjoy reading these books especially the isiXhosa supplements,” she said.

Trafficbrand, a digital advertising organisation, which is in the same office space as Nal’ibali, joined in on the Mandela Spirit and donated bags of fresh apples and oranges as a healthy snack or meal for the street children. The staff at Homestead welcomed both Nal’ibali and Traffic Brand at their head office and thanked the two organisations for their thoughtfulness on the day.

“The Homestead staff and children are most grateful for your support and we are deeply touched and motivated by the empathy and concern you have shown towards the children in our care.  Your support helps makes it possible for the Homestead to successfully stabilise children away from street life, to heal, develop and be educated, and to give such children an empowered, self-sustainable future,” commented Julia. She also said they would distribute the books, reading supplements and fruit to their drop-in centres in Khayelitsha, Woodstock and Manenberg.