By Kerry Walsh | 12 Days of Christmas 2019 Campaign Leader
The sweethearts Foundation aims to help underprivileged people receive the gift of movement in the form of a wheelchair. Our beneficiaries come from the most marginalized communities in South Africa and something as simple as a wheelchair is often out of their reach due to financial issues and long government backlogs. The sweethearts Foundation which gave away our first wheelchair on Valentine's Day 2013 is run completely by volunteers, who we endearingly call “sweethearts”. They are the ones who make the magic happen and help change the lives of our beneficiaries, as well as their families.
It’s 2020, and we are rolling out the wheelchairs!
It’s thanks to YOU, enthusiastic, energetic and absolutely awesome sweethearts, who continue to help us, support us and motivate us to give all that we can to those who need our help.
12 Days of Christmas 2019
Our 12 Days of Christmas: Wheelchair Edition campaign was started in 2016 and in 2019 we boomed! We have been completely overwhelmed with the support and generous donations we received from all around the world.
A whopping 70% of donations made towards our fundraiser were made on GivingTuesday and match-funding from GlobalGiving helped raise another 16% of our funds! We raised a grand total of R97 881.66 which has been distributed between the beneficiaries.
Thanks to the generosity of everyone who contributed to our project, 12 days of Christmas campaign, we were able to fully fund 5 of the 7 beneficiaries and partially fund the remaining 2 beneficiaries.
We had the privilege of letting Karabo’s mom, Mosa know her son’s wheelchair was fully funded and on its’ way.
Karabo has fought all his life, even during birth. As a result of multiple complications and largely due to a complete halt in breathing 20 minutes after birth, Karabo suffered brain damage and was diagnosed with a severe form of Cerebral Palsy which has left him unable to crawl, walk, unable to speak and completely unable to sit on his own.
When you meet Karabo, there is so much joy, mischief & happiness in his eyes and smile. Karabo, a pupil of Amari School in Welkom, is always keen on an adventure, whether it’s a walk around the block with one of his most favorite people (his older brother), just being outdoors or living the adventures through his favorite cartoon characters on television.
This wheelchair handover ceremony promises to be a very special one. He honestly can’t wait to test out his wheelchair which will be custom-fit for his special needs and designed to last a couple of growth spurts – perfect for a growing boy! Oh, we can’t wait to share in his excitement and will share details of this handover soon!
It was truly a blessing to have been able to help Karabo, his mom and his family.
“It’s been a difficult journey trying to adjust to a life of having a child with a physical disability and not knowing how to help him live almost a normal life, but with the help of this new chair my son will be able to satisfy his curiosity by going outside and playing with his brother and friends so thank you I’m very happy it’s all coming together so nicely. You have no idea the joy in my son’s face when I tell him he is getting a new chair – priceless.” ~ Mosa (Karabo’s mom)
Thank you to every sweetheart who made this dream come true. This is the result of hard work, dedication and most importantly, love.
We still need to help Danette and Siphelele receive their wheelchairs. If you would like to donate towards helping these wonderful people receive the Gift of Movement, please follow this link: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/help-gift-disabled-south-africans-a-wheelchair/
12 Days of Christmas 2018 - Fiso’s Wheelchair Handover
This was perhaps one of our greatest achievements that we were able to accomplish in 2019!
Fiso was one of our 2018 – 12 Days of Christmas beneficiaries. Unfortunately, the project did not raise enough funds to fund Fiso’s wheelchair and we continued fundraising over the year. After almost of year of hard work Fiso finally received this amazing gift of movement.
We wish Fiso, and his family, all of the very best for their future and wish Fiso many happy miles in his new wheels!
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