This Saturday, 19 November, the V&A Waterfront’s Amphitheatre was turned into a quiz show battleground with teams of schoolchildren pitted against celebrity adult teams in a nail-biting and hilarious battle of wits to see who was smarter.
Hosted by TV celebrity, Katlego Maboe, the Battle of Wits was part of Ikamva Labantu’s end-of-year fundraising drive to help them reach their R1,5 million target for the Fuel2Grow campaign. Fuel2Grow is a local child-focused fundraising initiative by NGO, Ikamva Labantu, which assists vulnerable children living in Cape Town’s townships. Fuel2Grow provides a holistic support structure that gives them what they need in order to thrive (in other words fuel to grow).
The kids’ teams came out the clear winners in each round with the final scores as follows: Team SACS Junior 105 vs Team Danilo Acquisto 70; Team Grove Primary 145 vs Team Africa Melane 85; Team Rustenburg Primary 125 vs Team Michael Mol 95 and finally the team made up of participants from Fuel2Grow beneficiary schools (Xolani Primary, Heideveld Primary and Lantana Primary) were the big winners of the day with 165 points over Team Zolani Mahola (Freshlyground) who scored 75.
Said 12-year-old Noni Sani from Lantana Primary: “I am so happy to have won but I knew we would because Geography is one of my strongest subjects. I was feeling nervous and excited before the quiz but now I am happy.”
The team leader of Team Zolani (Zolani from Freshlyground) said that she actually felt ‘scared’ before the event (for good reason it seems). “But at the end of the day this is a fantastic initiative and Battle of Wits is such a great, engaged way to get involved. We had so much fun today.”
On the event’s success Nyasha Manjengenja, Programme Manager at Ikamva Labantu’s Rainbow Centre, says: “It was so wonderful to watch the kids take part and to see the celebrities give so generously of their time. The event was so much fun and the performance at the end by Freshlyground literally brought the crowds to a standstill. We are looking forward to growing this event and making it an annual Fuel2Grow highlight”.
Says V&A Waterfront CEO, David Green: “The V&A Waterfront is pleased to be associated with an organisation such as Ikamva Labantu and their initiative, Fuel2Grow. The Battle of Wits event proved to be successful for the organisation and was thoroughly enjoyed by our visitors. We wish Ikamva Labantu all the success in their future endeavours.”
Adds Nyasha: “This would not have been possible without the generosity of our main sponsors – the V&A Waterfront for sponsoring the event venue and logistics, and Pick n Pay and Hamleys for sponsoring prizes for the winners and the public. We are immensely thankful.”
Fuel2Grow’s focus is to assist the Rainbow Centre afterschool programme based in Gugulethu. This includes meals; school uniforms and stationery; additional support at home, at their schools and in their communities; and aftercare that includes meals, sports, art activities and equipment; primary health screenings and academic support.
R64,667.75 was raised on Saturday, bringing the total amount raised so far to R230,145.34. Though there is still a way to go to reach their R1.5m goal, the initiative highlights the need for programmes such as this. Ikamva Labantu hopes to reach their goal for Fuel2Grow by the end of December, so donations are still welcome. Donation platforms are:
- SMS ‘grow’ to 40131 to donate R20
- Snapscan [QR code is available on the website]
- Or via the website at http://fuel2grow.org/donate/
Public who wish to donate can select one of the following options: R15 per meal for their nutritious meals; R115 per month for access to health screenings; R300 per month for enriching aftercare and R1,000 for uniforms and stationery for the school year or alternatively they can select how much they’d like to give.
Follow Fuel2Grow’s progress online at www.fuel2grow.org, https://www.facebook.com/IkamvaLabantu/, https://twitter.com/IkamvaLabantu and https://www.instagram.com/ikamva_labantu/
CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za.
Track Your Press Release HERE:
Check Online Visibility
Verify where this release is currently indexed:
Qualified payroll staff critical to business success