Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions brought some Christmas cheer when they handed individually-made, beautifully gift-wrapped Santa Shoeboxes to some very excited children at Buhle Bezwe home in Tembisa on 6 December 2017.

More than 40 thyssenkrupp employees selected a name from the list of children at the home and purchased a suitable gift which they individually wrapped in a shoebox. Kgothatso Ntsie, who heads up Marketing and Communications at thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions, was joined by Trisha Govender, Sophia Misplon, Wisani Mnisi and Maria Sorota to personally hand over the gifts to the children.

They also had the wonderful opportunity of spending the day with the kids, watching them opening their gifts, enjoying refreshments and celebrating the magical moment together. “It was so amazing and rewarding to see the smiles on the kids’ faces when we gave them their gifts,” says Kgothatso.

This is the fourth year that thyssenkrupp has supported Buhle Bezwe through the Santa Shoebox initiative. The relationship between Buhle Bezwe and thyssenkrupp is thanks to one of the employees at the thyssenkrupp Service Centre who had a relationship with Buhle Bezwe. Realising that the orphanage needed help he introduced the home to thyssenkrupp in 2015. 

According to Kgothatso this year was made even more special by Olivia Sourie Misplon, the daughter of thyssenkrupp employee, Sophia Misplon (Daproh Change & Training Manager), who saved up for the entire year to buy a gift for the Santa Shoebox. ‘Olivia joined us at Buhle Buzwe to hand over her gift and spend some time with the children.”

Buhle Bezwe (meaning Beautiful World) was established in 2000 by Barbra Mtimkulu to provide a home to 65 children. Currently 47 teenage girls and ten teenage boys live at the home. “As we do not receive a government grant we have to rely on funding from private companies and public donations from local churches and the community,” says Barbra. “The much-needed funds are used to buy food and pay for transport, electricity, water, etc. In addition, we will again need school uniforms for the 2018 school year.” 

Barbra explains that the children attend Saturday school for extra maths and science. “We work with a local church (Act of Love Ministries) from Midrand whose volunteer members kindly help the kids with homework and teach them maths and science.” Buhle Bezwe boasts a boys’ soccer team and many of the children love to do art. “Our home is beautifully decorated with their artwork,” says Barbra.

Barbra is also very proud of the fact that some of the Buhle Bezwe kids have moved on to  universities such as UJ, TUT and Cuba and many kids who have moved out of Buhle Bezwe to live independently volunteer their services at the home as a way of giving back.

“We look forward to continuing our relationship with Buhle Bezwe and giving as much as we can to support and help these children to grow and learn,” concludes Kgothatso.        

For further information please contact Barbra on 0725786431 or email barbraubuhlebezwe@gmail.com