With this project, the Siyanceda team decided to go beyond their normal borders and reach out to the remote communities of the Eastern Cape. We first went to Grahamstown, where eleven schools were selected to bring their grade 1 pupils. The Grahamstown Indoor Sports Centre located just outside town, blessed us with the free use of their facilities. It was a cold and rainy day but it did not stop the teachers from bringing the eager little ones to meet us. The anticipation grew as school for school the pupils started to fill the hall, not knowing why they were there. The excitement rose as we started handing out the school bags. In disbelieve the children opened the bags showing each other what they received … a pencil case with a pen, pencils, colour pencils, ruler, eraser and two A4 and A5 books. The Book of Hope; an inspirational book about life, family and friends, all related to stories from the Bible, were also handed out. With pride, the little ones flung the bags over their shoulders and waited patiently as the rest of the children received their bags.

The team also collaborated with the River Hotels, which form part of the River Group, to reach out into their communities. What an honour to serve these small and almost forgotten communities in and around the Hotel areas. There are no words to describe the feeling one gets when you see the faces of these little children when the bags come out of the boxes and it is just for them.

Over 3000 school bags where handed out this year!! We’ve even reached children as far as the Western Cape through faithful pastors an TBN viewers. We want to thank all our partners and everyone involved for making this project such a success. We will never know the real impact of the seed sown into these children’s lives.