On 19th January 2019, volunteers from the SSIO in South Africa hosted an exciting Fun Day for about 330 students and teachers from the Sarasvati Primary School, in the Frasers community in Tongaat. Located north of Durban, Tongaat is home to the oldest Indian community in South Africa, where the first indentured Indian labourers settled to work in the sugar-cane plantations.  Frasers is one of the communities adopted by the SSIO of South Africa as part of the landmark 95 Global Communities project.

The Fun Day at the school started with opening prayers and South African music to allow the children to express love for the motherland. The atmosphere was jubilant with spontaneous singing and dancing by the children. The children, who were divided into 16 teams, participated in numerous games. A choir, consisting of students from the nearby Trubel Secondary School, enthralled the crowd with a beautiful rendition of Whitney Houston’s hit song, ‘The Greatest Love.’ The audience was also entertained by an exciting performance by a group of South African Champion dancers from Sherwood Primary School. SSIO volunteers served delicious food to 350 children and 100 volunteers present. Many of the volunteers had chopped their own fire wood and grown the vegetables used to prepare the food served at this event. Guests left the event happily, with gifts of stationery kits and food packs.