Hard to believe that we have come to the end of the NCCF charity visits for 2019 with more than 200km travelled on the West Rand today, stopping at 8 of our assisted charities.

Our most recently adopted charity are struggling to feed almost 200 children on a daily basis. Their centre is also in a bad state of repair, but until they receive the deeds to the property, we cannot assist. Another of our West Rand charities is always so welcoming, with the children never failing to dance and sing for us. The centre would like to expand its school facilities, but again are awaiting department registration papers before they can proceed. A new intake of younger children has another of our charities expanding with the opening of another house block in the very near future. As we continued on our rounds, one of our favourite charities, yes we know we should not have a favourite, catered delicious treats for us. This year was a sign language lesson that had all our fingers in knots trying to learn to sign our names. We are still awaiting council approval to commence the building of their new primary phase classroom for deaf learners, a major undertaking for the NCCF.

And on to the fourth charity for the day, which is so overcrowded as the home is far too small for the 46 orphans in their care. Nevertheless, it is well run and boasts extremely happy children. Our fifth charity visit was another of our recent adoptions, and we were sad to see that this large facility, for which they pay rent, is so run down. As we entered our last charity we were met with a giant Lego project where 2 teams of children were about to embark on the construction of a home on an island with a bridge to give them access to a mainland area. This is always a joyful home to visit. Our last stop of the day was at beloved home where our assisted charity is very involved in supporting the more than 150 children in its care.