One of the highlights of this year’s Operation Adventure Week held at Thembalethu HBC was the arrival of the Gingerbread Man, who was greeted with much joy and excitement by the children. Accompanied by two managers from the Mugg & bean organisation, the Gingerbread Man shared out a huge cake, hundreds of muffins and a bucket of gingerbread biscuits to all the children and care-workers at the centre, and distributed T-shirts and knitted beanies to everyone.

The Gingerbread Man is the official mascot of the Gingerbread Foundation, a new charity initiative started by the Mugg & Bean organisation which is funded through its customer loyalty card programme. The Nkomazi Community Trust has been appointed as the main beneficiary of the Foundation, and all funds it receives will be used for the sole benefit of the Nkomazi children and care-workers who are registered with the Thembalethu HBC project.

The Mugg & Bean organisation also sponsored a film crew from the South African Broadcasting Corporation who had come to the Nkomazi region to make a documentary television programme about the social work taking place within this community.