By Nangamso Mabindla
11 August 2006

THE Phand'ulwazi care centre in King William's Town came to life this week as a group of Dutch and local youth started working on changing the face of the centre.

Called the Leiden Youth Work Brigade, the group of 16 youths from Buffalo City's Dutch twin city, Leiden, jetted into a soaking wet East London on Thursday, 3 August to start work on the centre. Though the weather delayed the start of the work, it did not dampen the Youth Work Brigade's spirits.

Brighter days followed, and the group, assisted by enthusiastic youngsters from the centre, quickly put their paintbrushes to work.

A visit to the centre showed the Leiden youngsters working busily together with youngsters from the centre. Some were painting the interior, some were renovating the kitchen, while others were changing the 30-year-old Phand'ulwazi carpet.

Ineke van der Ham spoke passionately about the work done on the centre: "I'm absolutely happy to be here and the youngsters here are enthusiastic and willing to learn. You don't even see sorrow in their faces. They are so grateful that we came here to help change the look of the centre."

Van Der Ham said that that they had received pictures of the centre before their departure from the Netherlands. "But we found out that the situation was worse when we arrived here; now we want to make this place more dignified and bring joy to the children's faces," she said.

Another of the Dutch youngsters, Kevin van der Lans, said that he was happy to be part of the group that gave something back to the centre. "I am so happy to have experienced this and when I go back to Leiden I want to be an ambassador of the Leiden-Buffalo City twinning arrangement," he said.

A grateful Child Care Worker at the centre, Nonzaliseko Krishe, said that she was very happy that the centre was being renovated. "Even though it's just one of the four units that is being renovated; it is a starting point. Our children are so happy to be part of this; this also warms my heart," she said, adding that she would now have a dignified place of employment.

"As long as our centre is clean; we are happy and we hope that the city would also look at helping us with the other units," Krishe said.