“When I’m big and strong” is normally an expression that, particularly for young people, evokes hope for the future and having meaningful goals.
But then one has proactive teens such as Jemima Lyne, from Bridge House School, who don’t wait around until adulthood to make a difference.
This 14-year-old is a typical Grade 9 teenager with much energy to spare. She enjoys horse riding, playing hockey, digital editing and writing. But unlike many other young people her age she loves to participate in charity work and events.
One such charity is Caps 4 Charity, a branch of Bread Tags for Wheelchairs Foundation.
“It is simple,” explained Jemima. “Once 10 000 bottle caps are collected, we are able to give someone in need a wheelchair.
This initiative not only feeds the need of the disabled community, but goes the extra mile to fulfil other needs, such as housing.
“After the bottle caps are collected they are then melted down into bricks to help build school structures, shelters, small houses and other buildings,” Jemima explained. “I am currently working towards collecting enough bottle caps to provide someone with a wheelchair.”
She says she has worked with Bridge House on this project for five years, collecting bottle tops, and is now educating a wider audience about the project.
Over the past few months alone she has collected more than 4 000 bottle caps in and hopes to collect on a larger scale.
“I launched an inter-house competition at our school to collect caps and the enthusiasm among our students absolutely blew me away with the amount we collected, with 2 300 bottle caps collected in just two weeks. And we are still carrying on with this collection.
“I love working with, and for, the community and seeing the difference a small amount of work can make in somebody’s life, which is amazing. Growing up in a privileged household I am very grateful for everything I have, and helping others is my way of giving back.”
Jemima says a past student at her school, Christiaan Cloete, started the initiative, collecting bread tags for the same purpose, and now the project has mushroomed.
“I have a small group of friends whom I am very grateful to, who help me at school and elsewhere in the community with collections.
And through it all Jemima is still a dedicated student at all levels at school, and hopes one day to become head girl.
Her weekends are largely spent doing bottle-cap collections, helping at shelters, working with children in her community, teaching them to swim, and more.
She want to inspire other people young and old, to become involved with local charities, for such activity can really change somebody’s life.
“In our area we are extremely lucky to have opportunities to help others. There’s always a charity that needs help.”
