The 23rd of May was a happy day for the Toy Library at the Child Health Unit when Micklefield donated R4000.00 to their cause.

The Toy Library caters for the needs of children with Down’s Syndrome. Once a month the children, from as far away as Manenberg, come to the Toy Library to swap and collect toys.

The Toy Library has a wide variety of toys, which stimulate the child’s eyesight, hearing or touch.  The mother’s of the children can bring in the loaned toy and exchange it for another every month.  Some of the children do not have toys at home and the service is much appreciated.

The money that was donated to the Toy Library was raised at Micklefield’s annual Mini Market which is run by the girls.

Every year we choose a charity to benefit from the proceeds, and last year we chose the Toy Library but only got around to handing over the cheque this year.

Some of the Grade 7’s, accompanied by Mrs. Masterson and Mrs. Dugmore, spent part of the morning with the children and we were the ones to hand over the cheque.  A lady called Marianne, who is a teacher at a special school for Down’s Syndrome children, told us about Down’s Syndrome and why a baby could have Down’s Syndrome.

We all learnt a lot about Down’s Syndrome and we now understand that by putting just a little effort into a worthy cause we can change a lot of lives for the better.

Written by Tamlyn

Everyone who decided to enter had to think of a name and pay a fee of R2,50 which went to charity.
There were 2 winning prizes and 2 runners-up prizes.  The winning prizes were a Cavendish gift voucher
with a box of chocolates and a hamper filled with edible delights, the 2 runners-up prizes consisted of
cuddly toys.

The winning name was “Herald of Hope”.  This name was chosen by Kate in Grade 2 and Robyn in Grade 7, they both came first.  Robyn received the voucher and chocolates and Kate got the
hamper.

We asked Robyn and Kate how they got the name “Herald of Hope”.  Robyn said that she thought of the
hymn “Hark the Herald” and got her idea from that.  She said the reason for using “Herald” was because it sounded like a guardian of peace.  She came up with the name “The Herald of Hope”.

Kate said that her Dad looked in a thesaurus to find a variety of words to go with newspaper or something along those lines.  They then found words to match with the other group of words, they then came up with “Herald of Hope”.

Dear Tamlyn
An interesting thing happened to us when we were in the Transkei, which left us with great feelings of hope for our country.  We were on our way to Umgazi on the Transkei coast and realised I had forgotten my cell phone charger.  We felt we really needed to be in communication on the lonely Transkei roads so we pulled in at a garage on the outskirts of Umtata, where we saw a mobile cell unit.  Upon investigation, I was told they didn’t keep units and that we would have to travel right into the centre of Umtata - a daunting thought.  Just then, a delightful black gentleman came out of the prefab shed and insisted on escorting us to the shop where we would find cell phone chargers.  Apprehensively we followed behind him and he led us to a really suspicious looking part of Umtata.  I must admit, my heart was racing a little to say the least as I thought we were in for a “James Bond” Transkei adventure!  I was in for a wonderful surprise.  The gentleman climbed out of his bakkie and came to help me out of mine.  Grasping me firmly by the elbow he escorted me into a fascinating shop whereupon  he told the shop owner to give me a special price and checked the charger for me before letting me pay.  He then escorted me, still by the elbow, back to my car, opened the door and told me firmly to shut all the windows, lock the doors and get out of Umtata quickly as Umtata was full of “skelms”!  With a cheery wave he saw us out of Umtata and safely on our way to Umgazi.  We were left with a great feeling of warmth and gratitude as we continued on
our journey.

Yours sincerely
Ali Corbett