Life lessons at Woodside Sanctuary

Icing sugar being mixed for the cake decorating

I took Little Missy along last week when our office did our 67 minutes for Mandela Day at the Woodside Sanctuary. It is a sanctuary for profoundly intellectually disabled people.

I did try to prepare her by telling her that Woodside take care of older people (and children), but who have the brain capacity of children. That there are many reasons why something went wrong with their brains...

Cake decorating

We first had to help with the preparations of mixing the icing sugar. I am sure that we gave Woodside way more work by asking to "help", and that they had to accommodated us more than the actual help we could give. They are always ready to welcome us with open arms.

Little Missy said afterwards that she should have been allowed to help with the cakes. But the ladies in the kitchen knew what they were doing!

After the cake decorating we had to help with feeding the children. This is where Little Missy came face-to-face with the children. I am sure that they just saw a new kid, and that the children got very excited and got a little too much into Little Missy's face.

Luckily one of the ladies opened up a separate room where Little Missy could get a glass of cool drink, and a colouring book. Little Missy said that the children were not what she had expected. They were not "mooi", translated as beautiful.

One of the eldest residents joined us later on. She always carries her handbag with her. She only talks with grunts (or that's what I heard), but she was immediately interested in my iPad. I opened up the Toca Tailor Fairy Tales and she was very excitedly choosing outfits and accessories. The iPad would definitely make a big difference here!

Little Missy looking on 

The Eldest knows how to swipe!

I think it is good that Little Missy saw the other side. Maybe she will start to understand how nice it is to be going to a normal school, and to be able to go around on outdoor activities and outings..

We went for a Spur lunch (her choice) afterwards, and there she realised that these kids can't just quickly go out to play at a restaurant! And then we made a list of all the things that these kids/adults can't do...

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The Woodside Sanctuary provides full-time care for 100 residents with severe mental deficiencies.
30 of the residents do not have the means to pay for their support, and Woodside has to fund it from their own budget. They have a budget deficit of over R600 000.
They are asking for winter donations of clothes and blankets to help keep the residents warm in the large wards.

Donations can be made here:
Woodside Sanctuary
Standard Bank
Melville Branch:  006105
Account No: 201098784



Related posts: 

- It is in our hands #MandelaDay #Do67Minutes

- 67 minutes...

67 minutes...

It is Mandela’s birthday today, and we are all celebrating it by spending 67 minutes giving back to our communities. #MandelaDay

Somebody asked about the significance of 67 minutes in a previous blog post. It is the same amount of years that Nelson Mandela, former president, spent towards the greater good of all people here in South Africa. A significant amount of that time was spent in prison!

Woodside Sanctuary

We spent the time today with the Woodside Sanctuary for mentally and physically disabled people (children). It is very near to our workplace in Auckland Park, Johannesburg! The Woodside Sanctuary has been identified as our CSI project for this year!

They were very accommodating towards us, and involved us with helping them with some of the activities with the children. They are doing wonderful work with the people there. It is a 24/7 job!

I met Theunis and we did some colouring in together. They could not tell me his “story” of how he got there, but he was adamantly trying to tell me about something about his head! We figured out he got a bump on his head, OR it was the reason for his disability. He loves his watch on his arm, and he has a soft toy car which he is holding all the time. He told me when we were leaving that we should come again…

Dave, a former engineering student who was in an accident, was spelling our names repeatedly, and getting very excited when he counted the snakes & ladders dices being thrown.
“I know! I can spell! I can do mathematics!”
Apparently he sometimes can get very frustrated when he realizes what has happened to him!

The guy in the back was knitting with Elizabeth. He is blind, but when she wanted to leave, he was hugging her and did not want to let go!

Every person there has got a story. It is not a depressing place, but where there is hope and laughter. The people who work there are kind and caring!

We all came away from there feeling grateful to have what we have!

It seems we don’t even have to go far to look when we want to give back to society…
(It is just around the corner!)


What are you doing with your 67 minutes today?