Delivery for African kids

– Tania Martin
FOR Yarra Ranges resident Scott Fyffe making orphan children smile was the best feeling in the world.
He has recently returned home from a whirlwind trip of Africa where his first stop was in Uganda to deliver donations to orphaned children.
Mr Fyffe said seeing the smile on the children’s faces was well worth the trip.
“It was amazing to see their smiles – they were over the moon,” he said.
“It was amazing to see how happy they were considering how little they have.”
The idea for donating goods to the orphans started several months ago when Mr Fyffe was planning a holiday to Africa with his girlfriend, Cassandra Coignet.
“We originally planned a trip to Africa because we wanted to go on safari but we also wanted to do something worthwhile,” he said.
After more than two months of collecting donations from local sporting clubs such as Kilsyth Basketball Club and Adidas, as well as from friends and family, the pair packed up their bags and headed for Africa.
Mr Fyffe said they took more than 50 kilograms of baggage to Africa on the experience of a lifetime.
He said the donations consisted of basketballs from Kilsyth Basketball Club, sporting good from Adidas, T-shirts, singlets, shorts and even some coloured pencils.
“The Kilsyth Basketball club and Adidas were both extremely helpful and generous to the point that where Cassandra and I couldn’t have physically carried any more goods without organising freight and delivery,” Mr Fyffe said.
The pair visited orphans in Uganda before starting their safari trip.
Mr Fyffe said a lot of the children, especially the girls, really liked the basketballs and immediately started bouncing them around.
Mr Fyffe is now urging anyone who is taking a holiday in a Third world country to place a phone call to local corporations to seek their assistance in donating goods.
He said people would be surprised how easy it was to collect donations for orphans with the help of friends and family.
“The smiles on the orphans faces were more of a highlight for us than seeing a lion up close in the wild,” Mr Fyffe said.
“I would definitely do it all again.”