Article by Lieutenant Colonel Bafana Nxumalo, Staff Officer 1 Communication, SA Army Engineer Formation
Photographs by Sergeant Eulanda Leshaba, Senior Photographer, SA Army Engineer Terrain Intelligence Regiment

On 17 July 2012, the SA Army Engineer Formation hosted a group of children from the Kingdom Life Children’s Centre, Atteridgeville. Forty-four children aged between six and nineteen arrived at the formation for a roller-coaster, fun-filled day with the Sappers at the Sappers’ Heights – the SA Army Engineer Formation Headquarters.

At 08:30 that day, two busses were at the centre to fetch the children, but the buzz, excitement and the angst did not help very much. The busses finally left the centre thirty minutes later. There was anticipation, uncertainty about the place they were visiting, but everybody was looking forward to the outing.

On arrival at the formation, the visiting group posed for a group photo with the members of the Executive Board of Management on the Bailey Bridge. Thereafter, Colonel Hennie du Plessis, Chief of Staff, welcomed the visiting group on behalf of the General Officer Commanding who was away on other official tasks. Firstly, there was a hullaballoo at the door. The children had noticed that their faces were on the poster on the door, welcoming them to the formation! However, with little urging, they entered the conference room for the welcoming. To warm up the visitors, hot chocolate was served quickly before they went out to watch a demonstration by Operational Construction members.

Colonel Johannes van Niekerk, Senior Staff Officer Operational Construction, and his team demonstrated the making of a tool box for the group. They also showed the children various tools that are used in carpentry and also demonstrated their use. The children showed great enthusiasm in doing practical work. It was quite important that the group was kept interested as most of them were younger than fifteen years. So, we moved to another demonstration by the Combat Engineers.

We met Colonel Petrus Manser, Senior Staff Officer Combat Engineers, who performed a one hour demonstration of different aspects of combat engineers. The children witnessed thunder flashes, smoke grenades and rocket flares. They were fascinated by the explosions. Although this demonstration went on over an hour, the interest was intense among the children.

A group photo at the Bailey bridge on arrival	Children of Kingdom Life Children Centre play violin instruments

The members of the Kingdom Life Children’s Centre have an abundance of talent. So, we let Mrs Sylvia Magoba introduce the talents of the children at the centre to the Sappers. Since we had just finished demonstration at the parade ground, we let her do it at the parade ground. The children rendered three musical pieces with violins which had many members of the formation quite fascinated. To close off the performance, the children sang 2 traditional Zulu songs – a smooth, flowing and rhythmic performance. It was excellent and it pulled the crowds’ heartstrings as the performers were all young children.

Children of Kingdom Life Children Centre play violin instruments and drums	Members of the SA Army Engineer Formation also got entertained with traditional dance

At 12:30, the group was exhausted and the lunch was ready. People converged at the conference room and, once more, Colonel du Plessis had an opportunity to address the group. He asked the children: “did you enjoy your day here with us?” The whole conference room gave a resounding “yes”, to which he remarked: “well, I’m happy, because that was the essence of this day – to make you happy and feel welcome here at the SA Army Engineer Formation”. Colonel du Plessis handed over two gifts to the management of the centre: a framed group photo of the group on the Bailey Bridge on arrival and a plank that was prepared by the carpenters with the inscription: Kingdom Life Children’s Centre. The children received goodie-bags and lots of clothes donated by members of the SA Army Engineer Formation.

Members of the SA Army Engineer Formation also got entertained with traditional dance	A group photo with children showing off the gifts received from the members of the SA Army Engineer Formation