Harvest Aid

One of our Harvest Aid children, Thabo*, celebrated his 12th birthday on the 25th of August. His sponsor contacted Harvest Aid to set up an appointment so that she could give him a little party. Thulani, the Harvest Aid fieldworker, met us at Patrick Mashego Primary on Friday afternoon. He directed us to Thabo's home. There was a young boy standing next to the road and Rina* immediately recognized him as Thabo. She excitedly exclaimed: "That's my boy! That's the child that I am sponsoring!" What was most amazing was that she had only seen a photo of him up to this meeting.

Thulani told Thabo to go home and that we would be there shortly. We parked and got all the presents and eats together. As we entered the house, we started singing "Happy Birthday". The smile that we encountered was something to behold. He was so excited and stunned by the presents, cake and cold drink. He did not want to put anything down, but could not open his gifts with his hands full. He loves cricket and received a cricket bat, ball and wickets as well as a white cricket pull-over. His other gift had a science kit in it, as he enjoys science at school. We lit the candles and he blew them out. His older brother and cousin also joined the fun as everyone enjoyed some cake. The other eats and the cold drink was left for the family to enjoy that evening when Thabo's sister got home.

It was heartbreaking to see that their fridge was empty, before we put the colddrink in. This young boy can vaguely remember a party when he was little, so this was really a special day for him and so unexpected. This is the stuff that makes all the work that we do Harvest Aid, worthwhile. (Names marked with * were changed to protect the identity of the individuals.)