Support Kids Who Don’t Have Toys

On Wednesdays we normally have a product review and/ or giveaway, but today we’re having a post about giving back.

I feel somewhat embarrassed about the plethora of toys that overrun our home. I have lost count of the cars. I have tried to organise them into boxes (small cars & big cars) and to separate the construction set from the train set. We recently got a new train set and now he has two.

There are many kids in this country who don’t have the luxury of any toys at all and, being kids, make do  with what they have. They use real objects. Instead of a car, they would use a box.

Topsy Turvy is a project where you can support these kids by “buying” their makeshift toys – actually a donation so that they can get the real toys they need.

The Topsy Foundation is a registered Non-Profit Organisation which provides relief to South Africa’s most under developed rural communities, particularly those in Mpumalanga. Their mission is particularly to empower communities and children affected by AIDS.

Topsy’s name was inspired by a book. “Topsy” was the name of a character in a book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 called Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

As an uncivilized slave girl orphaned during her infancy, the character ‘Topsy’ has no recollection of her parents, nor has she undergone any formal education.

The character of Topsy in Uncle Tom’s Cabin has much in common with many of South Africa’s Aids orphans, who often grow up not having known their parents and without any form of love, nurturing or security.

Here is an extract from the book:

“How old are you, Topsy?”

“Dun no, Missis,” said the image, with a grin that showed all her teeth.

“Don’t know how old you are? Didn’t anybody ever tell you? Who was your mother?”

“Never had none!” said the child, with another grin.

“Never had any mother? What do you mean? Where were you born?”

“Never was born!” persisted Topsy, with another grin, that looked so goblin-like, that, if Miss Ophelia had been at all nervous, she might have fancied that she had got hold of some sooty gnome from the land of Diablerie; but Miss Ophelia was not nervous, but plain and business-like, and she said, with some sternness,

“You mustn’t answer me in that way, child; I’m not playing with you. Tell me where you were born, and who your father and mother were.”

“Never was born,” reiterated the creature, more emphatically; “never had no father nor mother, nor nothin’. I was raised by a speculator, with lots of others. Old Aunt Sue used to take car on us.”

The child was evidently sincere, and Jane, breaking into a short laugh, said,

“Laws, Missis, there’s heaps of ’em. Speculators buys ’em up cheap, when they’s little, and gets ’em raised for market.”

“How long have you lived with your master and mistress?”

“Dun no, Missis.”

“Is it a year, or more, or less?”

“Dun no, Missis.”

“Laws, Missis, those low negroes,–they can’t tell; they don’t know anything about time,” said Jane; “they don’t know what a year is; they don’t know their own ages.

“Have you ever heard anything about God, Topsy?”

The child looked bewildered, but grinned as usual.

“Do you know who made you?”

“Nobody, as I knows on,” said the child, with a short laugh.

The idea appeared to amuse her considerably; for her eyes twinkled, and she added,

“I spect I grow’d. Don’t think nobody never made me.”

***

Here is a success story:

This little boy never ever communicates or shows any emotion during my visits, no matter how hard I have tried in the past. But look at the picture, he was so excited and when all the funny sounds came from the toy train he was over the moon. I wish I could have shared this moment with everyone. For the first time he smiled and made funny faces himself! It has made such a difference!

By Heleen Venter: Topsy Social Worker

If you’d like to contribute to the work Topsy is doing go here to Spree and support them.