I have never been very good at receiving awards. Anyone who knows me will tell you that the moment someone starts saying kind things about me in public, I immediately start thinking about the children, about whether the nappy stock is running low, whether someone remembered to defrost the chicken, whether the little one with the ear infection slept through the night. So when Cascades Lifestyle Centre announced that I had been named the winner of their inaugural Woman of Substance Campaign for September 2016, my first thought was not about me. It was about what R10 000 could do for a child who had never in their life known what it felt like to be wanted.
The Cascades Woman of Substance Campaign was launched by Cascades Lifestyle Centre as part of their Women's Month celebrations, a beautiful initiative designed to shine a light on women across Pietermaritzburg who are quietly, consistently doing extraordinary work in their communities. In the end, the community voted, and Thandi House came home with something extraordinary: R5 000 for me personally, and R5 000 donated for Thandi House. However, all funds were given to Thandi House.
People sometimes ask me what a donation actually does. What does money translate to, in real terms, for a child living at Thandi House? R10 000 means a month of groceries for a house full of children, some of whom arrived severely malnourished. It means a medical aid payment that keeps a child with a chronic condition in private healthcare. It means school fees, or a speech therapy session, or a pair of shoes that actually fit. But more than any of that, it means we can keep our doors open for one more month. And for a child who has never had a home they could call their own, that is everything.
Thank you for the votes. Every person who voted did so because they believe that abandoned babies, abused children, disabled children, and children who the world has forgotten deserve love and a family, regardless of their circumstance. That belief is what built Thandi House.
Every child deserves love and a family, regardless of their circumstance.
Rene Morcom
