Third Bed to Bathandwa Children's Home

It is with great joy that we delivered the third bed to Bathandwa Children's Home this week. Our generous donor, Mr John Philips, kindly sponsored the bed that went upstairs in the room of the older children. It has replaced old and damaged beds that the children used to sleep on.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Philips just two weeks ago, during a visit of his to Cape Town. I showed him the beds installed at Bathandwa. Thank you, John, again for your support and generousity.

Last Bed for 2008!
Sadly, this is the last bed to be installed for 2008. We are awaiting new funding before we can start manufacturing the next order of beds. Over 90 requests for beds are pending!

Here are the pics of the new Nested Bunk Bed at Bathandwa:

Shoebox Goes Green with the AgriPlanner Course!

This week I (Sam) was at a fantastic Agri-Business course. Designed and run by the South African Institute of Entrepreneurs, I was thoroughly impressed with teh course content and the experiential way it was presented.

Agriplanner trains small-scale farmers to make a living from their land. We learnt basic farming skills such as what crops to grow in Cape Town and how long each one takes before giving a 'return'. We were actually being trained to train others, so we were also taught how to pass on these skills as well as other 'go to market' strategies.

At Shoebox, we aim to support people living in overcrowded and disadvantaged communities. With the Agriplanner course content, we are excited to explore the possibility of supporting individuals to make a living from their small gardens.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Write a comment or send us an email!

Exciting New Products at Headspace at CPUT

Today I was at Headspace - an exhibition of work from CPUT students. CPUT, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, have a great design department and I have enjoyed connecting with some of the staff and students.

Of particular interest, of course, was the space-saving designs. I saw some great work by the students. Interestingly, all of it was made of Xanita, or X-Board. This is a recycled, low-cost board that is made just outside of Cape Town. I am not convinced of it's long term durability, however, it is great to see such an innovation in this area.

Here are some pics (low-res), of the students' work:

Photos from Saartjie Baartman

Here are the before and after pics from the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children in Surrey Estate, Cape Town:

Busy Week!

This week we have been very busy finishing off the delivery of the beds sponsored by the Ackerman Pick n Pay Foundation. Bringing the total delivered bed units up to 59, we delivered the following:

1. Two more bed units to Langa residents, through the SOS Family Strengthening Programme. These went to the Kewana and Cira Families. The Kewana home is pictured here:



2. Two bed units to The Salvation Army's Carehaven (increasing their capacity rather than replacing older bunk beds). Here's a picture of Sam with Captain Alexina.


3. Lastly, another bed went to the Saartjie Baartman Centre (see next post because there are lots of pics!)

Thank you to the Ackerman Pick n Pay Foundation for your generousity and valuable support. We could not have done this without you!