‘Give a Child A Gift’ returns for the festive season |19 December 2022

A souvenir photograph after the handover of the donation

• 14 families from each district to benefit

The National Council for Children (NCC) has held its second ‘Give a child a gift’ project and this year the donation came from the non-governmental organisation Soroptimist International Club of Victoria, which raised R37,000 to be used for the purchase of gifts for less fortunate children.

The NCC purchased a total of 378 gifts and in a short ceremony on Friday afternoon, at the Anse Etoile district administration office, the gifts were handed over to all district administrators, in the presence of the NCC patron, First Lady Linda Ramkalawan; the Minister for Local Government and Community Affairs, Rose-Marie Hoareau; NCC’s chief executive, Yasmin Umarji and Soroptimist representatives and the DAs.

NCC, which initiated the project in 2021, said it collaborated with Soroptimist International Club of Victoria, which advocates for improving the lives of women, girls and children in general, as well as educate, enable and empower the community through various initiatives, as they both wanted to play their part to bring a smile to children’s faces.

When addressing the guests on behalf of the district administrators, Minister Hoareau thanked the two organisations for their kind and thoughtful gesture and said “her ministry was very happy to be part of the project as it falls well into the plans of building a stronger community”.

According to NCC the gifts will be distributed to children from 0-12 years old and the Local Government department has chosen the families who were most eligible for the presents.

All together, 14 gifts were presented to each district and the district administrators will now deliver them to the children.

Diane Larame

Photos by Joena Meme