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To all the Nelson Mandela volunteers and donors

THANK YOU NOTE FROM DR TRISH OF MUHIMBILI PAEDIATRIC ONCOLOGY WARDS

To all the Nelson Mandela volunteers,
I would just like to express my thanks to everyone on behalf of all the children and their parents for the magical day you provided for them yesterday. The ward was still buzzing from the event today and lots of toys were in evidence to the obvious delight of the children.
Life is not easy for these little people or their amazing families but yesterday was a truly memorable one, packed with fun and smiles - I've seen the photos to prove it and am looking forward to seeing more!!!

Thank you all so much,
Take care,
Dr Trish.

THANK YOU NOTE AND SUMMARY OF THE DAYS EVENTS FROM CAROL RATH (SAHC)

Many, Many thanks to everybody who participated in the Mandela Day activities at Muhimbili Paediatric Oncology Wards this afternoon - both those who assisted in a material manner, as well as those who came to assist and support!

After handing over the light blankets, soaps, caps, washing powder, softner, pens as well as the toys collected by the UN to Dr Jane, we got down to business! Clouds fm had a team to cover events and they stayed with us the whole afternoon, capturing the activities and interviewing participants.

The UN family had collected funds to buy cleaning materials to give the wards a spring-clean, and the UN Club and volunteers provided the manpower.

In the meantime, Spur brought balloons and face painting to the sicker children while Faules Ndabila told them some entertaining stories before they tucked into their burgers.

We gathered the weller children together and after an impromptu sing-a-long, walked them over to a nearby open space with grass and trees, where Pepsi had set up a tent of soft drinks, music, DJ's and a mobile stage.

All attention was on the show and some of the children had an opportunity to go on stage and participate in an animated "Pass the Pepsi T-shirt" game! Lolipops and crisps were passed around as everybody enjoyed the drinks supplied by SBC and the balloons from Spur and from Game. Everybody got a chance to have some face or body painting, and enjoy the pleasant surroundings and good company.

The music and show was so well appreciated, there was not really an opportunity to play the games as planned and then we were entertained by some lively dancing from the International Youth Fellowship group before returning to the wards.

Once back at the wards, the children received food boxes from Spur or hotdogs from Dineo, so all the patients could enjoy a delicious meal and each child received a toy from Game and from Spur. We were also able to leave some toys for the school that is set up for the weller children on weekdays.

Tata Nelson Mandela would be very proud of the way so many people were prepared to give of their time and energy to try and make the world a better place for others! It was a most worthwhile event, and members of the UN Association were inspired to start working on a project for cancer awareness so that rural children will be detected early enough to have an increased chance of complete cure!

Many thanks to everybody,
Carol Rath