SIMON FAWCETT VISITS SOUTH AFRICA DELFT

Monday, 14 December. 2009

In previous years at Mistral we have chosen to celebrate Christmas with our customers and suppliers, by the traditional exchange of cards and gifts. This year however we have decided to depart from this route and instead support a couple of charities that I have personally been involved in through the year. Both are in South Africa and carry out fantastic work to support families and children that have to exist in the harshest of living conditions.

In October I was lucky enough to spend some time with my family in Cape Town, visiting a close friend who runs double deck coaches throughout Southern Africa. They had major issues with staff security when moving around the various buildings with muggings being common place.  Instead of hiring additional security they adopted an innovative solution by starting to provide food for the children living in Khayelitsha– the local township where you may have seen David Beckham doing a football clinic last week. They now entertain some 300 children every Friday afternoon during which time they do some basic teachings with the children as well as giving them some food.

Since this started there have been no further muggings!

Whilst there we were also fortunate enough to be invited to a Christian Church Group in the local Delft community, to assist in hand delivering a large quantity of clothes that we had been collecting. At the group, Pastor Charles George has made a huge difference to the lives of many families in the area, by providing a small building where people can come together to worship and receive some food. All of the attendees live in extreme poverty with poor clothing and many have not eaten for a number of days. The small kitchen you will see in the video caters for more than 5500 people per day!
 
We take food and shelter for granted but reality for more than 12 thousand people in this area is living in a 4 m x 2 m tin house with 1 washbasin and toilet to service 4 houses, and with 83% unemployment they literally do not know where the next meal will come from.

We hope that you will agree with our decision to support these deserving charities to help them both do more of the fabulous work they are doing. The video on the following link, shows some of the work that the charities are undertaking, and is a moving reminder of why this work is so important.

Can I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and safe Christmas as well as a prosperous new year.

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