The women of the George Child and Family Welfare's Sikelela Skills Development Centre have been commissioned to create items for a new kids' decor and apparel range at a popular golf resort.
To date, it has provided skills training for more than 200 people, ranging from knitting, sewing, glasswork and beading, to building bird feeders and making glass chandeliers from champagne bottles recycled after a Fancourt Ball – some of which have even been exported.
Intricate and fun designs can be seen brightening up everything from towels, facecloths and linen, to room-drops and turndown gifts in the hotel rooms, with special attention to baby items such as comforters, fitted sheets and pillowcases for cots. These, along with kids apparel that includes tiny slippers, bibs and booties, have all been designed to welcome children visiting the Fancourt golf resort in George, and to add a touch of magic to their stay.
The items may also be purchased as keepsakes to take home to treasure in years to come.
In 2006, the Fancourt Foundation, now the Sabine Plattner Africa Charities, established the Sikelela Skills Development Centre under the leadership of Fancourt owners Hasso and Sabine Plattner. It was created to provide arts and crafts training to unemployed members of the community to enable them to earn a living and support themselves.
The resort recycles various other goods to Sikelela, which George Child and Family Welfare adds to its resource centre and toy library, by using the recycled material to make toys for the smaller crèches in the area.
It is known for its efforts to uplift disadvantaged communities in the southern Cape, through various successful, long-term community outreach projects. These include five nutritional centres that feed 700 adults and children, five days a week.
Kerrin Titmas, Fancourt chief executive, says she believes the partnership between Fancourt and George Child and Family Welfare over the Sikelela Skills Development Centre is a real success story, based on a very practical collaboration: "It's a relationship that adds value to the guest experience, while benefiting the lives of many people from the communities we serve."
