Learners from the Rudolph Hennig School in Edmonton, Canada donated 260 teddy bears, each with a photograph of themselves and a note to underprivileged children earlier this year to Clover Mama Afrika (CMA) centres in Mfuleni, Ubombo, Pretoria, Ennerdale and Thabong. This kind gesture was the beginning of a great friendship between the children and was executed by Kuddlies4Kids, an international organisation that donates soft toys to underprivileged children worldwide. The young South Africans wrote thank you messages which recently made their way back to Canada at a special handover ceremony at the school.

Kuddlies4Kids first contacted Clover Mama Afrika, Clover's Corporate Social Investment (CSI) project, at the beginning of 2007 to inform them that they were selected as beneficiaries of soft toys from their various members around the world! Rudolph Hennig School donated the first consignment which took 6 months by ship to get to South Africa and with this wonderful and unexpected surprise, the relationship between Kuddlies4Kids and CMA grew.

"It was very meaningful and a nice way for our children to feel a connection with the Clover Mama Afrika children," says Deb Gerow, school principal. "We could have raised money to do a lot of other things, but I don't think our children would have felt the connection they did with this project. Teddy bears are pretty special to children all around the world," she says.

Prof Elain Vlok, manager Corporate Services at Clover and patron of the CMA project, decided to personally hand over thank you letters in Canada. On her way there, however, she first stopped off in the Netherlands and met with Netherlands Rotary and specifically with members of the Rotaract. There she received a certificate confirming 3 000 knuffels for the project, but after the meeting and presentation, they wanted each child to receive a soft toy.

Netherlands Rotaract collected soft toys from children throughout the Netherlands which came up to a whopping 17 500 toys that filled up an entire house in the end! They decided to donate 7 500 of them to CMA and these teddy bears recently arrived in South Africa after a five-month trip by ship from Rotterdam, Netherlands.

"Receiving 7 500 knuffels, means that just about every single child within the project gets their very own soft toy," says Prof Vlok. "We are fortunate to have created such wonderful partnerships with Rotaract Netherlands. This project shows that love does transcend across the world."

"The Kuddlies4Kids donation is an incredible story of how the love of a child can conquer. We are very fortunate that the children of our Mamas can share in this loving gesture and know that there are people in this world who care. CSI is real and makes a difference in people's lives." says Prof Vlok.