LOCAL singer, painter and actor Tiny Steenkamp (Hugo Warren) is very proud of his granddaughter Kathryn “KC” Lowther, who has ventured very far from home to join the work of Operation Smile in Malawi.
Operation Smile performs free corrective surgery for children born with a cleft lip and palate.
Lowther’s aid mission showed that giving of ourselves in service to those who need not only help but care, fellowship and fun and laughter is necessary towards fostering hope in those who have only a little even of that.
KC, Steenkamp’s granddaughter, ran a volunteer initiative towards collecting soft toys, skipping ropes, bubble-blowers, crayons and colouring books, and other small toys for the children who are receiving medical attention. The initiative yielded impressive results.
“This August I will have the privilege of attending an Operation Smile mission in Malawi as a student volunteer where we will be providing free surgeries to repair cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities for children and adults,” Lowther announced on her Facebook page last month.
She left for Malawi two weeks ago, and returned to South Africa this past Saturday. She wasn’t in Port Alfred, but her mom Debbie Lowther related the story.
She said the response to her daughter’s call for toys had been inspirational, as hundreds of toys were donated from all over the country, but mainly Gauteng.
The donations filled three boxes and ultimately weighed around 60kg. But luggage limitations on the airline meant KC could not take all three boxes with her. She took as much as she was allowed to carry.
Debbie said the children were overjoyed with the toys.
“KC has videos of the children with the bubbles, they absolutely love them. She put a video on Facebook which received 5 839 views,” Debbie said.
As for the toys KC could not take with her, one of the boxes was given to the SPCA in Whiteriver, and another will be donated to a branch of Child Welfare.