For the month of July, Tarsus Technology Group (TTG ) staff in Gauteng gathered donations for three recipients chosen from the thousands of worthy causes across the province: Door of Hope, the Randburg SPCA, and the Itlhokomeleng Association for Aged and Disabled.
Requested donations included food, clothing and general items which were assembled into bundles.
Then, on the 31st of July, those bundles were loaded into cars, and three teams of TTG staffers chose one location each and split up and headed off.
Itlhokomeleng Association for Aged and Disabled
Staff were greeted at the Itlhokomeleng Association for Aged and Disabled by their CEO, Mrs. Marjorie Manganye, who gave a bit of background on the organisation. It was first conceived back in 1978, when a group of women from the Alexandra community grew concerned over the plight of pensioners, who had no resources to look after themselves. This inspired the women to register the Itlhokomeleng Association for Aged and Disabled as a welfare organisation. “Itlhokomeleng” means “help yourselves” in Sesotho.
In 1991, a permanent home was built to accommodate the elderly, replacing the temporary one that had previously been used and included a frail care unit. This increased the number of residents to 90, 60% of whom needed to be in frail care. Today, the home accommodates 95 elderly residents, some of whom are suffering from dementia, and provides them with food, shelter and basic medical care.
The home has need of a visiting doctor, as they have not had one since 2014. They have a room and facilities to accommodate one, but no doctor.
TTG staff donated food, blankets, clothes, winter goodies, diapers, a wheelchair, and crutches to the home.
At one point during the visit, a song broke out:
Randburg SPCA
The mid-market team, composed of four TTG staffers, went to the Randburg SPCA loaded up with their goodies. The donation included:
- 120kgs of dog food
- 60kgs of cat food
- 30 tins dog & cat food
- 20 blankets
- A variety of toys, brushes, bowls and treats.
Everyone was super grateful for the assistance (especially the animals), as the organisation was burgled recently. They also receive no funding from government, and so rely quite heavily on the public to keep them going.
The mid-market team dressed in casual clothes that they were happy to get dirty in, so they could spend some time up close with the animals.
Door of Hope
The team delivered the TTG donation to the grateful staff at Door of Hope in Glenvista, a charity that that looks after abandoned babies aged between 2 and 18 months.
They were given a tour of the facility, where they saw the 40 babies currently in Door of Hope’s care, who were napping at the time.
TTG dropped off several packages of nappies, cans of baby formula, toys, old clothes, cerelac, and wipes at Door of Hope. The donation brought a smile to the faces of the staff there, as it will go a long way to helping them look after the babies in their charge.
Rositta Mbanze, communications manager at TTG, was on this team, and called the delivery “an emotional experience.”
“As a mom it was difficult because I cannot imagine not being with my child, but I know that sometimes due to circumstances mothers are left with no choice but to part with their babies. That really breaks my heart,” she said.
