And once again in a flash we are in the middle of August. It’s been a busy but FUN year for us. In March we started working on our Fundraiser Event set to be in Copenhagen Denmark on 1 June 2023. A lot of planning and meetings went into this. The logistics were crazy. Bev and the sewing ladies put together a beautiful merchandise range which we got into 2 suitcases and lugged all the way. It was so worth it and was a hit. The sewing merchandise is a big part of our fundraising at A Reaching Hand and also helps to support the women and their families.

The Fundraiser was a great success!!! The event was held at The Eatery and their team really made the evening special. It started with a welcome from Karin and then handed over to a well known local celebrity Peter Taniv to host the evening further as well as act as auctioneer, together with Hans Svensson. They made an excellent team and the beautiful sponsored items brought in the bulk of the fundraising. We are so grateful to the sponsors!

We were also very excited to see some of our sponsors from Sweden. A few was at the event and we had an opportunity to meet up with some of the others. It was wonderful!

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all who attended the fundraising dinner to help us sustain our community work in Cape Town. Also to those who could not make it, and still donated. Your support was instrumental in making the event a huge success but your presence made the event more special, and we were honoured to have you there.

We raised a total of 69 300 DKK / 10 232 US Dollars!!

THANK YOU so much for your support.

What is Ubuntu in South Africa?

Ubuntu is a capacity in South African culture that expresses compassion, reciprocity, dignity, harmony and humanity in the interests of building and maintaining a community with justice and mutual caring.

Can you believe in a flash we are already in the middle of February. So much have happened since I’ve last been here.

The big sanitary pad hand out to young girls, mothers and aunties in the township. Your donations helped us provide over 100 girls and caregivers with reusable sanitary pad kits to last them for up to 5 years. A real life changer. What a huge difference you are making in their lives. This is big for them! THANK YOU!

Then there was the end of year gift for the little ones and the new year celebrations. Seeing the joy on their faces is a gift to us. The getting them back to school with the stationery and school uniform sponsorships. Thank you so much to all who have contributed!!! We acknowledge that we certainly cannot do this without out! THANK YOU!

As mentioned in our end-of-year newsletter, our focus for 2023 (while keeping our attention on the sustainable running of all our projects) we will this year have a big focus on our “Keeping A Girl Child in School” campaign, as well as energy saving and solar solution plans to help families keep the power on.

THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS, because it is YOU and YOUR continued support and understanding of the critical role we play, that keeps our team grounded, grateful and hopeful.

May this new year bring you more hope, more peace, more joy, more love and a whole lot of UBUNTU xxx

We visited the kindergarten on the 24th of September and loved seeing the kids and their caregivers all dressed up celebrating their heritage.

Heritage mark the entire month of September in South Africa.

Who started Heritage Day?

In an address marking Heritage Day in 1996, former President Nelson Mandela stated: "When our first democratically-elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation."

Heritage Day on 24 September recognises and celebrates the cultural wealth of our nation. South Africans celebrate the day by remembering the cultural heritage of the many cultures that make up the population of South Africa. Various events are staged throughout the country to commemorate this day.

In South Africa, August is Women's Month - and each year August 9th is celebrated as Women's Day, celebrating the strength and resilience of women and their contribution to society and our country.

DURING WOMEN’S MONTH WE KICKSTART OUR PROGRAMME TO CONTRIBUTE TO END PERIOD POVERTY AND OUR CAMPAIGN TO KEEP A GIRL CHILD IN SCHOOL. Recent stats shows that 7 million South African girls do not have access to, or cannot afford to buy, sanitary products.

WE LAUNCH OUR PROGRAMME BY HONOURING THE GIRLS IN OUR ART CLASS ON 20 AUGUST WITH A SANITARY KIT WHICH WILL LAST THEM FOR UP TO 5 YEARS. The kit consist of 6 reusable pads / cleaning kit and drying clips. We will continue to supply all our caregiver with a kit as well as many other young girls in disadvantaged communities. Most of the girls come from unemployed households, where every month families must choose to buy food or to buy sanitary products. Sadly they have to choose the former as it holds more importance for daily survival. Many girls miss 3-5 days of school each month because they cannot afford sanitary pads. Together with other household issues the girls eventually end up dropping out of school altogether.

Menstruation remains a taboo subject and presents many challenges for adolescent girls in South Africa. Cultural taboos about menstruation also harm the dignity, school participation and health of teenage girls.

In some communities, women and girls are still stigmatised when they are having their period. They are forbidden from cooking, livestock, socialising, attending church, and some are subjected to sleeping in a separate room even though they are married. Their mobility and participation are also restricted.

Menstruation is a natural process, occurring in the bodies of half of the world's population. Why is menstrual taboo a big problem, and what is being done to fight this stigma?

Help us Fight Period Poverty and Promote EDUCATION.

Its just another day - PERIOD.

Help us if you can www.areachinghand.com/donate