Rebuilding Khayelitsha - Come Rain or Shine

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” ― Winston Churchill

Sometimes giving back is hard...

We have been supporting the Khumbulani Day Care Centre in Khayelitsha for many years and are thrilled to announce that a new beautiful three story Khumbulani is in the making. While we at Rhino Africa have bought the property, using revenue from tourism to help uplift the communities and environment around us, the incredible organisation, Khayelitsha.de, are financing the build of the crèche. Together we plan to make it bigger and better, not only as a construction, but as a centre of community and hope.

The Rhino Team headed out one wet and blustery morning last week to help the builders. On Cape days when a storm takes over the city, no sensible person leaves the house. Flowers cower in their buds, squirrels hole up with pigeon folk. Table Mountain disappears. Windscreen wipers howl across the city. And we... well, this time we had a date with Khumbulani. We had a school to help build and the rain served as a rude reminder that sometimes giving back is not fun. It’s hard work. But that’s the point. As Mother Teresa (the only person to quote in this instance) said: “Give, but give until it hurts.”

The work we achieved in one morning, shoveling 1000 hollow cement bricks (12 kg each) up and down from one level to another, would have taken the three builders who help at Khumbulani two weeks to accomplish. Our team of stormtroopers swooped in in spite of the rain belting down. A regular crossfit workout for some. What we did in a morning is nothing compared to the daily work of the men and women behind Khumbulani and we thank them for letting us get hands-on for a few hours. Working with others, creating something from nothing, that's what life's all about.

Take a look at some of the images of the day below and watch this space for updates. In October, we head out for our first mini-Olympics with Khumbulani, for a chance for the kids and Rhino team to enjoy a day together, outside of the classroom and office.