Mandela Day at Arup delivers scarves for children
As part of their 67 minutes contribution to Mandela Day today, 18 July 2014, the Arup staff joined in a knitathon to create colourful scarves for the children of Nomthandazo Childrens Care Centre (NCCC) in Daveyton, Ekurhuleni. This is one of the Oliver's House projects and it cares for 22 children from the surrounding area in a warehouse, offering pre-school education.
Arup staff knitting away for Mandela Day.
"We have had one of these knitathons before and it proved very popular, with even our guys giving it a go," explains Charlotte Middleton, marketing and communications leader at Arup. "We decided to start the knitathon in the run-up to Mandela's Day and hope to create enough scarves for every child - today will be the peak day, with everyone knitting together for 67 minutes.
"Arthur Bales in Linden have once again helped us, providing wool and needles at a large discount. DK Truck and Plant Hire have also helped us this year by sponsoring 67 balls of wool."
The NCCC hopes to move to Oliver's Village in the near future. This sustainable development project plans to be a self-contained community, once it is operational. The engine of Oliver's Village will be the organic farm based on a biospheric design, which meets the strictest principles of organic farming. Water will be supplied by a borehole and electrical energy via a photovoltaic electricity sub-station. It has an enterprise development component, where the unskilled are taught to make bricks, which are being used in the construction of the various buildings to be erected at Oliver's Village. For more information, go to Oliver's Village.
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