Every year, we host a relaxed braai (or BBQ) in a beautiful English garden setting. Our aims are to get to know new people, build a community of expats and like-minded people, and raise vital funds for the life-changing charities we support in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
This year, we're hosting our braai on "Mandela Day", a day of remembrance and celebration for all South Africans. There will be good food, good company, and the opportunity to donate to those in desperate need.
Date: 18 July 2026
Time: 4–7pm (food served 5:00-6:00 pm)
Location: Ferndale, Albury View, Tiddington, OX9 2LQ
Donation: Recommended donation of £15 per adult (includes food and drinks). Children under 12 are free.
To help us cater efficiently, please let us know by Saturday 11 July that you are planning to come:
If you are unable to join us but still want to donate, you can do so here:
Examples of what your donation could provide to children:
Every £ becomes food, warmth, and hope for children!
MNCP runs a Preschool, Reading Club, Maths and English tutoring, holiday club programmes, and mentoring and life skills seminars for very deprived children, many of whom are orphans. For some children, the Breakfast Club provides their only meal of the day.
Through these programmes, children have successfully completed school, found a job, and now help support their families. Some, such as Sfiso, have returned as volunteers with MNCP!
iThemba helps the community grow in multiple ways, responding to what the community needs most.
Children thrive when their bodies and brains receive enough nutritious food to grow – especially in their first 1000 days. iThemba's permaculture food gardeners help the community grow food to feed their families. A nutrition mentor explains: "We focus on the people, not on the gardens. Then THEY focus on their gardens. They grow, and then their gardens grow."
Education in Zimbabwe is in a dire state, and many children cannot afford school fees or uniforms. Cross Over created a holistic syllabus specifically for these children's context, taught by mentors who act as role models and counsellors.
Cross Over provides resources and training of mentors to any group or person wanting to start their own school, keeping the cost as low as possible (free to the most vulnerable). The kit for Grade 1, for example, has everything from skipping ropes to flashcards, paints to reading books, that a mentor needs to give 20 children a year of great learning experiences.
Simanga (13) is being raised by her granny and came to a Cross Over site with no schooling. At first, she was very shy but, with time, she started participating actively in the class and is excited to be learning.
Over 40% of adults in the Eastern Cape are unemployed, and many have no income at all. F4F's core activity is providing food parcels. These make all the difference to people such as Sthembiso, who lives at the tip and scratches a living sorting through rubbish there.
F4F also helps people obtain ID documents and apply for social security grants (these are minimal in value but better than nothing).
As you can see, we have been busy in the background here at Thembisa, refreshing our website and welcoming some new Trustees to the team.
Before we introduce the new-comers, we want to thank Peter Braithwaite for the wonderful support he has given to The Thembisa Trust over the 20 years as our Treasurer and Administrator. Peter and Thembisa found each other in the 1990s through the volunteering organization, REACH. Peter wanted to volunteer with a charity as he moved away from full time work in the IT industry. He initially provided admin support and then became our Secretary/ Treasurer, helping us to raise and manage funds for the many worthy projects we support. With his business acumen and proactive thinking, Peter continues to provide wise input into our processes, ensuring that they are efficient and of maximum benefit to our projects.
Taking over these duties from Peter is our new Treasurer, Caroline Mathew. Caroline grew up in South Africa and studied Computer Science and Mathematics at the University of Cape Town. She worked in IT and teaching for a few years before establishing her own software business, which has developed an Occupational Health software package. Caroline now spends a couple of months every year in the UK but still lives in South Africa running her business. She is also involved in a charity (Fill-a-bag Feed-a-Family) in Pretoria which provides food parcels to the poorest of the poor. We are so pleased to have someone as experienced and capable as Caroline to take over the important job of managing our finances with honesty and integrity.
We are also thrilled to introduce you to two new Trustees: Ben and Taryn Wheatley. Ben, Taryn and their family moved to the UK from South Africa in 2020 and still have strong ties to home. Ben is our website manager and assists Caroline with treasury administration. Taryn manages our social media channels.
To learn more about us and our Trustees explore our About Us page here
