Ex-pat youngster runs project to help Sparrow
After reading the Record online and learning about the financial difficulties experienced by Sparrow Rainbow Village and their numerous pleas for funding, Sibusiso decided to start a project at his school to raise funds for them
Sixteen years ago, Sibusiso Ndlozi, who resided at Sparrow Rainbow Village in Maraisburg at the time, was fortunate to be adopted by loving parents who took him abroad when they relocated.
Now comfortably living in Germany as a teenager doing Grade 10, Sibusiso wrote to the Record/Northsider in order to reach out to the organisation that helped him by setting him up for a better future.
The youngster said, after reading the Record/Northsider online and learning about the financial difficulties experienced by Sparrow Rainbow Village and their numerous pleas for funding, that he decided to start a project at his school to raise funds.
“I started a project in school to help the people in South African impoverished communities to deal with the issue of HIV/ AIDS,” he said.
His proud adoptive mother, Kerstin Proske, said Sibusiso recently collected money for Sparrows at a school party, and wanted to transfer it to the organisation. She said that donating the money would be meaningful to her son as he last visited the organisation three years ago.
“We visited Corine McClintock, the founder of Sparrows, in March 2016 and she was so happy to see Sibusiso as a healthy, nearly grown-up teen,” said Kerstin.
The founder and director of Sparrow Rainbow Village, Reverend Doctor Corine McClintock, remembers Sibusiso and his family. She said that they’d always been helpful towards the NGO, and that she would check the Sparrows bank account to see when the donation comes through.
The Sparrows village and ministry have served as a beacon of hope for the adults and children under their care and guidance. The NGO’s original mission was to provide care and comfort to adults and children who have been infected or affected by the HIV/ AIDS pandemic. The organisation is both a hospice for the terminally ill and a children’s home for vulnerable children who have become homeless due to the death of one or both of their parents – making the ministry one of health and hope for them.
Unfortunately, they have lost a lot of sponsorship over the years, thus leaving them in dire straits.
To donate or find out more about Sparrow Village, call Corine on 082 200 4193 or 079 886 1890, email her at corine@sparrow.org.za or finance2@sparrow.org.za, or visit their website at https://www.sparrow.org.za.
