In October of this year, we visited Hugo Tempelman at his work in Elandsdoorn. Vivi Eickelberg, Chairwoman of the Hugo Tempelman Foundation and Helge Sasse, Deputy Chairman were accompanied by Seipati Wittenstein, an employee of the South African Embassy in Berlin.
On October 13, the trip began with a visit to Walter Lindner, the new German ambassador to South Africa. He had just taken up his post in July and was very interested in finding out more about Hugo and his team’s holistic, sustainable “project”.
On October 14, the small delegation and Hugo received the representative of SOS Children’s Villages Worldwide, Vincent Hlabangana. The organization runs 8 children’s villages in South Africa. The purpose of the visit was to discuss possible collaborations. The center for mentally and physically handicapped children, which is still under construction, was also visited. This new project by Hugo could become a model especially for the rural areas of South Africa, where there are practically no treatment options for these children.
On the last day of the trip, we visited Sello Hatang, the director of the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg. He showed us the impressive collection of various documents, photos, awards and prizes from Nelson Mandela’s life and took us through the rooms where “Madiba” worked, such as his office or the room where press conferences were held. Everyone who comes to Johannesburg should plan a visit to the Nelson Mandela Foundation. After the tour, Hugo and we had the opportunity to explain the work of the NDLOVU CARE GROUP to Sello Hatang. He was visibly impressed and wanted to make an appointment with Hugo as soon as possible to see the projects for himself in Elandsdoorn.
After three intensive days, we returned to Germany full of impressions and new ideas. And we hope and wish that the appointments and discussions we had during the three days in South Africa fell on fertile ground.
