The air was filled with excitement, nerves and hairspray, at Majestic Nursery, in Lambton, last Saturday.
The venue hosted charity organisation A Girl and Guy’s Dream Come True, who were making sure that the matric farewell dreams of 19 pupils from Afrikaanse Hoërskool Germiston came true.
The girls looked gorgeous and the boys extremely handsome as professionals prepared them for their matric farewell, that evening.
A Girl and Guy’s Dream Come True was started by Louise Wood and her son, Jason van Schalkwyk, four years ago.
Louise and her family lived in Germiston for many years and Louise told the GCN that she wanted to give back to the community in which she had lived and her children, Jason and Chantal Kading, had grown up.
The schools which her children attended, Afrikaanse Hoërskool Germiston and Germiston High School, were selected to be the recipients.
The pupils had to write a letter describing their dream matric farewell and the schools then selected deserving winners from all the letters received.
Thirteen girls and six boys were chosen from Afrikaanse Hoërskool Germiston and 10 boys and 10 girls from Germiston High.
Germiston High’s matric farewell is taking place at the end of November and the recipients will be given the same attention as the Afrikaanse Hoërskool recipients received last Saturday.
The selected pupils were treated to everything, from dresses for the girls to suits for the boys, as well as nails, hair, shoes, transport and much more.
Fashion designer Michael Bezuidenhout personally dressed four of the girls and the other outfits were sponsored by Bon Bon’s, in Alberton.
“One of the girls is wearing my daughter Chantal’s red dress,” said Louise.
“Chantal wore it at her matric farewell 17 years ago, and after this farewell, it is going to be packed away and boxed.”
Louise told the GCN that they could not have made the matric farewell so special for the pupils without generous support.
Some of the sponsors were Richard and Marion Eltringham, who own Majestic Nursery, who sponsored the venue, snacks and lunch for the recipients and their families; Michael Bezuidenhout, who dressed four of the girls; Bon Bon’s who dressed the rest of the recipients; Sohk Consulting, who picked up the bills at lunch meetings, gave the children a breakfast, bought designer watches for all the boys and picked up any shortfalls where necessary; Peopleshop, who paid for all the girls’ nails to be done; One Stop Trucking, who sponsored a vehicle, shoes and other odds and ends; Liezel Bekker, who did the girls make-up; EWC College Germiston who sponsored all the hair necessities for the girls, such as weaves, etc.; Black Tie who lent them two limousines; Visual Jade, who did the photo archway and Chadoz Barbershop who did all the boys haircuts.
Another exciting aspect of the whole experience for the matric pupils is that they will get to see themselves on television.
It has been arranged for the charity that One Shot TV, a Congolese television station based in the United Kingdom and an arm of the BBC, will make a reality television show about the work the charity does.
They will be doing this for the next five years, and this will assist A Girl and Guy’s Dream Come True to get their vision out to the world.
