Love Knysna Projects is a group of local volunteers who take kids for experiences that make their world bigger. We want to ensure that they know that Knysna is their home and not, as too many answer, the road where they live or “the township”.

As ours is a tourist based economy, sharing knowledge will help create ambassadors for our town. Photos of the trips are placed on Facebook and websites with the parallel purpose of advertising our beautiful area of the world.

As important is multi-cultural integration. Helpers and their kids learn from the experience too. Some of us adults have, like the kids, enjoyed parts of Knysna for the very first time.

“One Knysna, Our Knysna” is our belief and goal. If you share that aspiration, want to do good whilst enjoying a social, have a car and can spare lunch for the kids we work with, consider becoming a volunteer.

We’ve experienced walks at Steenbok and Jubilee Creek; attractions such as Knysna Elephant Park, Monkeyland, Birds of Eden, Blue Hills Bird Farm and Jukani; picnics at Jaap se Baai, Bollard Bay and Gerickes; restaurants etc. Those fall under the project called Experience Knysna.

Although not a focus, we have sent a teen to Cape Town, helped another for a school trip, got presents for a child about to undergo an operation and clothed others. And when high-schoolers undertook a census of their community, they were rewarded with pampering from Pezula Spa.

You can attend more but all we ask is that you commit to helping on at least one trip per month. They normally take half a day but a restaurant visit would be less whilst heading outside of Knysna could take a bit longer. You require a reliable car and, importantly, a seat-belt for each child. You’re welcome to bring your own kids. It is requested that you don’t smoke in the car with the children – not only because it’s unhealthy but because cigarettes are against the faith of the Rasta kids who will often go along.

Volunteers meet at central points and we then travel in convoy to fetch the kids.

Note that Eat & Smile is a restaurant trip. Some kids have never been in one before. As important is simple interaction. We’ll negotiate a good deal with the venue and then you say how many kids you’re prepared to pay for directly on the day e.g. you’ll fetch two and pay, for example, R40 each for their meals. You and your children will receive the discounted price too.

More often than not, for the outdoor excursions, we all bring fruit, water and vegetarian sandwiches and collectively put them in one place so as to allow the kids to choose what they want.

These are the dates for trips this year:

• Oct 25 – Eat & Smile for younger kids.
• Nov 8 – Outdoor excursion (destination to be confirmed next week)
• Nov 22 – Eat & Smile for teenagers.
• Dec 13 – End Year Party (outdoors).

In 2016, the main goal we will be to visit 10 beaches in Knysna, teaching the kids facts about each.

Putting a smile on a kid’s face will put a smile on yours too 🙂

Contact mike@loveknysna.com to volunteer.

PS: It would be terrific if some of Knysna’s great photographers would join and share their photos with us.