Help us, to help others this Christmas

It’s the Festive season knocking on our door again. The Lowveld has received the season’s first good summer rains and the working year is almost drawing to a close. At this time of year many people look at what they can give back to their favourite charities, community projects and houses of prayer. At Skankane Transport we appreciate the support we receive from the Lowveld community throughout the year but at Christmas our hearts open a little bit more.

A Christmas Pool Party

Huis Betlehem is a great yet relatively unknown charity in the Nelspruit / White River region. They opened their doors over 15 years ago and offer a place of safety for children who have been removed from their family homes by social workers. House parents take care of children of any age and try to let them live their lives as normally as possible. They stand in as parents for the daily school runs, for helping with homework, driving to sport practice, for emotional support, to give hugs when needed and of course to help them face any court cases. Only 10 % of these children go back to their family. Huis Betlehem has houses in White River and in Nelspruit and they are always in need of daily necessities, from school clothes to food, and they do not receive any subsidies from the Government. They are completely reliant on donations from their community.

Huis Betlehem has been on our charity list from the beginning of our social responsibility projects and we’ve decided that this year we will take all of the children from Huis Betlehem to the Mafunyane Water Park at Riverside Mall, Nelspruit. A Christmas Pool Party on Thursday, 11 December with treats and gifts for boys and girls will start their festive season with a bang.  This will be a memorable day for everyone especially the children. It’s a rare treat for these children and their age’s ranges from baby to teenagers, many of the children have not had a Christmas party before.

“Mafuyane” is Shangaan and translates to “the irritable one”. This name was given to one of the Kruger National Park’s Magnificent 7 elephant bulls that was famous for his gigantic tusks which measured 251cm both left and right. Today you can see this bull and 6 others tusks at the Elephant museum in Letaba rest camp, KNP.

Spit braai for royalty

Living with epilepsy is no easy task, just ask any parent, family member or friend who has someone in their lives living with epilepsy. Epilepsy South Africa is our only national non-profit organization in South Africa that helps epilepsy sufferers. One of the centers is the Epic Centre in Dullstroom. Here people with severe epilepsy live in a center away from their families and most days they don’t get a proper meal. On Heritage Day / Braai day we held a lekker braai for the residents and staff of the Epic Centre. Here we heard heart breaking stories of people who have been forgotten by loved ones. This is our second charity that we are supporting this festive season.

On 20 December we are giving the residents and staff of the Epic Centre a spit braai fit for a king. We will be handing out gifts for 100 people. Snacks, salads, cold drinks and ice cream are just some of the things on their wish list that we would like to give them, along with donations of gifts from the public or money to buy gifts for these residents. Braai masters, are you ready to show off your braai’ing skills?

You are invited

What we would like to see is the Lowveld community joining us in the celebration of the gift of life by joining us for these Christmas parties. We are looking for donations in any shape, size or form. Snacks and cold drinks for the children of Huis Betlehem and/or the residents of Epic Centre or gifts and gift vouchers, whatever else you’d like to donate we will gladly accept. You are also hereby invited to join us at these two Christmas parties, to show the children and the Epic Centre family that their community cares about them.

At Skankane Transport we are happy and willing to come to you and pick up any donations you might have. We will transport this free of charge to Mafunyane Water Park or to the Epic Centre in Dullstroom. If you are a business that is up for a year end challenge, here is the perfect opportunity.

If you want any more information regarding these charities or their Christmas parties or if you have a donation you would love to give then please give Len a call on 013 741 1378 or 072 798 4149. Important: Please note that you are most welcome to join us @ Mafunyane Water Park, however you are liable for your own entrance ticket(s).

We would like to thank Jimmy of Mafunyane Water Park and Lourens of Vleispaleis in advance for their generosity and for helping us to help others this Christmas.

• Vleispaleis Nelspruit – 013 752 6895


• Mafunyane Water Park – 013 757 0080 / www.mafunyane.co.za

Help us, to help others this Christmas