A while ago, I reviewed a super nifty steam sterilizer for Avent. It is such a powerful little gadget that sterilizes six bottles in twenty-four seconds. I am not kidding. I feel such such an idiot for spending a fortune on milton and all those things where the boys were littler. It is a bit pricey, I think around R1600 but you will save bunches and bunny hops in the long run. Well, I certainly would have. Especially with two kids.
After my review I asked the (super nice) team over at Philips Avent if I could hand this gadget over to a creche in need, and they gave me the thumbs up!
I met with Toni yesterday. She is an incredibly inspirational person that heads up the Sir Lowry's Pass Empowerment Project. They assist the community with Adult Education, Youth Development, Primary Education, Early Childhood Development and they also have an Empowerment Center. They have FOUR creches that they monitor and support. It really is incredible. After a brilliant lunch meeting with Toni, I've found all sorts of ways that I can help and wriggle my way in to her projects. I am so excited to get involved in this community. Please have a look at their website for more information. Here is an extract that you really should read:
Sir Lowry’s Pass village is a small, very poor community in the Western Cape that has been largely forgotten. The people here struggle with many of the same issues we find in other townships in South Africa. We have about 40% of our adults without jobs.
Housing and sanitation are huge issues. It is not uncommon to find a family consisting of between 5 and 8 members spanning over 3 generations all living together in one shack (informal housing made predominantly of wood, cardboard and corrugated iron). Many of the mothers are single parents and often there is only 1 breadwinner in the family. Needless to say, most of the people in our village are barely surviving. Those of our adults that are employed are mostly seasonal workers. This means that while grapes and apples need to be picked on nearby farms, they are earning. The rest of the time, they are not.
Whether the mother is working or not, we experience a lack of parenting in our village. Each mom can only put into her children what she received while growing up. She cannot give what she does not have. A lack of effective parenting means our children are largely unsupervised and ill-equipped to deal with peer pressure. Issues like drug and alcohol abuse, gang membership, crime and teenage pregnancy are wide spread. The academic results are poor and the future appears bleak. Every mother wants her child’s life to be better than her own but too often history is repeating itself.
Also, click here for the full story on what this Empowerment Project does. Thanks so much to Avent for your donation. Toni was thrilled that the creche would receive such an invaluable asset for the babies that they care for there!
High Fives all round!