Mandela Day blankets roll out in Standerton

Blankets were rolled out at the Junxion Centre in Standerton on May 18 for the 67 Blankets for Mandela Day initiative.

It is an international NPO founded in South Africa to commemorate the first democratically elected president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela.

A group of women were knitting under an umbrella.

“You can either knit or crochet 20cm squares, which will be assembled into a blanket for the needy,” resident Sangeeta Daya said.

“We will take the blankets to the brand manager Johannesburg for the formal handover.“

Blanket will then be given to various benificiaries all over the country. Sangeeta facilitated a group of women to begin to either knit or crochet a wool blanket for the 67 days and she is in awe of their accomplishments.

“My heroes of this project are the darling group of women of the Let’s Knit & Crochet group,” Sangeeta emphasised.

Sangeeta is planning to do her very first blanket for next year. It all began when her husband, Nitin and herself, were in the Fourways Mall in 2022 and saw blankets of different colours and patterns everywhere in the vast space.

Nitin took photos before challenging his mother, Aruna Daya, to make a blanket. He promptly bought her 50 balls of wool.

“You need four to six balls of wool to make a blanket,” Aruna said.

As more women became aware of this project going on, the Lets Knit & Crochet group grew bigger, and from their goal of 10 blankets, 55 blankets were completed. That led to all the extra wool being used to make many more blankets for this project.

The Standerton group of women are from different walks of life and a few were seen at the centre, choosing wool and knitting away.

Marjorie Uys, Jean Robertson, Magda Streicher, Antoinette Koekemoer, Daleen Jansen van Rensburg, Renette de Sousa and Jeanette Roberts are some of the women in this group. Sangeeta described their get-togethers as fun-filled and fulfilling.

“I love the energy emanating from the group. I had the opportunity of meeting amazing women that I am constantly learning from,” she added.

Sangeeta thanked Riana Labuschagne from Junxion management for allowing the presentation, Clasics,in town for the signage and Bernard Dafour from Standerton Mills for providing the plastic underneath the blankets at the event.

She also thanked Theo and Caren Viljoen for the use of their gazebo.

Sangeeta is a qualified accountant and Nitin is a mechanical engineer and they have two children, Parth and Jyoti.

She had to get in touch with an ambassador of the NPO and the one in Mpumalanga was located in Mbombela (Nelspruit).

“Since visiting family often in Edenvale, Johannesburg, we got in touch with one of them.”

This passionate seamstress is of the opinion that this project offers something different in the rat race.

“It is important to do things that make you happy. It’s magic, voila a blanket.”

If somebody wants to be part of this project and join the group, call 072 296 5340.