Making a Change

I have often thought how can we help our country, there are so many people in this great country that are living below the poverty line. So how can we help them, for me donations are all well and good, but we don’t get to see if our dollar actually reaches them. So what I thought is I would like to see my work and actually feel that I was contributing…..what did I do? I picked up some snickers workwear and headed over to a local social development office and signed up to help build houses and schools in township areas.


I was pretty simply as they are always looking for help and they were very happy to have me. Off I went to a township just outside Cape Town to get my hands dirty and build a better South Africa; armed with my Dewalt power tools I was ready to do some good. It was not what I expected and yes it was very hard work. Picking up bricks and moving cement was tiring I could feel my muscles aching from all the activity. But it felt good I knew I was making a difference. I was helping to build a pre primary school and it was in the middle of a very poverty stricken area, but out of the dirt would rise this symbol of hope for the children of South Africa, because after all they are the future of this great country.

After a hard day’s work, the lady in charge asked me if I would like to take a ride to the place where all the kids were at school at the moment, so of course I agreed and off we went. What I saw brought a tear to my eye. We pulled into a dusty space with nothing but to cargo containers next to each other. There was a door on the side and as we walked in I saw that this in fact was the class room for the kids. 55 students all smiling up at me as the brave and kind teachers look after and teach them and feed them while their parents work or look for work. I breaks my heart but also makes me feel that what I am doing is making a huge difference. What it has done has made it that I want to come back again and again and I would urge you to do the same.