What should we buy to give away?

[Tommy_Fontaine]

My family and I are going to SA for a plains game hunt for ~10days. During our holiday we are planning to visit a school in a remote area near the krokodil River which as you can imagine the students do not have much. So when we arrive in Johannesburg we will be shopping for some stuff to give away to them. Have any of you done this? And what would you recommend to giveaway? toys perhaps?

 

[dobber]

When we went and planned on a school stop over, we brought clothes, lots of clothes, all the school supplies we bought local - help support the local stores as well as the schools
Think we bought almost everything they had, chalk, pencils, papers and anything else I figured a school would need

 

[Hogpatrol]

Bring some candy.

 

[R.M.C.]

Very nice gesture. I have only been once but my tracker/skinner asked me for my shirts when I brought up tipping him so maybe clothing is a good one. I don't think you can go wrong with candy too. Just my two cents lol.

 

[Savage Hunter]

We carried frisbees with Christian symbols and candy.

 

[Just Gina]

+1 on the candy. It is a big hit with the kids and the adults too!
Flip flops. Easy and lightweight to carry.

 

[mdwest]

Bibles go over exceptionally well.

I often take over several deflated soccer balls and a hand pump (easier to fit several in your bags that way)… then pump the balls up just prior to delivery…

The kids go absolutely wild over a simple $3 soccer ball from Walmart

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Pens, pencils, spiral notebooks

 

[Tommy_Fontaine]

Thank you so very much for all your replies, keep them coming. These are all things I didn't think about but definitely plan to put on the list.

 

[BnC 04]

For kids, candy, candy and more candy.

 

[wesheltonj]

You might want to contact SCI about getting one of their goody bag.

Candy, pencils, soccer balls, T-shirt’s

 

[JimP]

On my first hunt we visited a small school. On our way out of Port Elizabeth we stopped at a store similar to our Walmart and picked up all kinds of school needs. Notebooks, pencils, a few games, balls, and such. We let our outfitter decide what was needed.

We then stopped at a large drugstore and picked up some portable first-ade kits and more supplies to replenish items as they were used.

One item that we found that went over real big was tennis balls.

 

[Sourdough]

Absolutely get toys for them. Kids are kids everywhere in the world.

 

[Newboomer]

Absolutely get toys for them. Kids are kids everywhere in the world.

Picture books and workbooks for different grades. Kids are starved for knowledge.

 

[mdwest]

Flip flops. Easy and lightweight to carry.

this is brilliant... I hadnt thought about flip flops before..

there is an orphanage in Rustenberg that we've taken a special interest in.. the lady that runs the place is truly a saint... she has dedicated her life to taking care of her kids (has actually adopted 9 kids herself out of the orphanage over the years... and was talking about adopting a 10th the last time we visited)...

they literally scrape by month after month just trying to make sure the kids have food to eat and a warm place to sleep..

we noticed the last time we were there that many of the kids didn't have shoes... but thought getting shoes over from the US would take up a lot of space, be a pretty big cost trying to cover that many kids, etc..

flip flops wont keep them warm.. but they will certainly offer better protection than being bare foot.. and its something the kids could call their own (most of the clothes, shoes, etc in the orphanage come from local donations, arent new, etc..)..

I think we will pick up several pair the next time we head over and hand them out to the kids in need..

thanks for the idea!

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

Soccer balls
Stationary
Clothing-t shirts
Candy

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

A vey useful thing also is toiletries
We help a few orphanages and schools and this is asked for the most
Deodoarant
Tooth brushes
Tampons, panty liners
Wash cloth
Shower gel

 

[Beck]

Soccer balls, school supplies, and clothes

 

[Hogpatrol]

re: flip flops, take an indelible magic marker so they can put their names on them.

 

[slam8031]

If you go to local high schools they often will donate used soccer balls. We took 12 to a school in Limpopo. We fed 300 kids with beef stew from my children’s hunting Tooth brushes and soccer balls were well received. But I took 300 pairs of wool socks—I think they would have fought each other for the socks. Of the 300 children approximately half had on no shoes and half of the remaining had no socks. It was 37 F the morning we were there. I usually take a duffel bag of clothes or socks to give away.