Pretoria - Things are set for the Pretoria News and Talk Radio 702 Mandela Day initiative at the Thohoyandou Primary School in Saulsville on Thursday.
The pupils at the school are in for a treat with a number of events planned, as well as party boxes for all as they celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 95th birthday.
Moves for Life, a Pretoria-based chess-in-education project, will donate 20 chess sets to the school.
Malusi Lekalakala, a chess teacher from Mamelodi, will do some teaching on a 2m x 2m chess set at the school on Mandela Day.
Lekalakala, the only South African yet to beat the top chess player in the UK, runs the project in Mamelodi.
Swimming South Africa will donate a 6m x 4m Porta Pool to the school.
The Swimming South Africa’s Learn to Swim trainers will teach the children safety skills in water.
They will also train an adult to become a swimming instructor.
Godfrey Monei, marketing manager for Swimming South Africa, has obtained approval from the Department of Education for the project in Saulsville. However, to make the initiative a reality, the project needs to raise R50 000 for the installation of the pool.
This amount covers the purchasing of a large pump needed to inflate the pool, pipework and the infrastructure to support it once it is inflated.
BestMed, which has worked closely with Swimming South Africa in the past on this type of installation project, has offered to donate R20 000 toward the installation cost.
It is hoped a sponsor or two will help turn this dream into a reality.
The Thohoyandou Primary, a no-fee primary school, has about 660 pupils from Grade R to Grade 7.
Staff cook for the pupils daily and have managed to secure three buses to take some of the children to and from school.
The school needs the following items and work to be done: soccer posts, balls and grass, tables and chairs (Grade 3s) plumbing for the toilets, netball/basketball hoops, cricket equipment, a chess board, library renovations (ceiling and books), securing of the playground area from traffic, paving of parking and assembly area.
If you would like to make a difference, or can help towards the cash needed for the swimming pool project call Elaine Ash at the Pretoria News at 012 300 2130 or go to www.702.co.za or leadsa.co.za and follow the Nelson Mandela Day project link to register and tell them where you would like to assist.
Alternatively, if you wish to make a monetary donation, you can transfer the money to: LeadSA, FNB, Branch 250655, Account number 62278074465, with the reference Thohoyandou.
A large number of LeadSA Mandela Day activities are being planned with residents called on to join one and give at least 67 minutes of their time in the service of others.
The Viva Foundation has a number of activities on three neighbouring sites in Mamelodi.
They include the greening of the Viva Connect Centre and Riverside Community Park in Lusaka, Mamelodi East, and a full programme at the Viva Kids Day Care and Pre-school centres in Alaska informal settlement.
Meleney Kriel of the foundation has asked for donations of stone pavers, lawn, trees and shrubs, seedlings and implements for the greening project.
Residents were welcome to help with games and other activities or help cook at the school project, Kriel said.
Pretoria News
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