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| Our Pretoria branch were invited to stage
their Queen For A
Day at a fashion show at the Lynnridge Mall
in Pretoria and jumped at the chance to let their little girls model on
a stage in a
shopping mall. The little girls were so excited and thoroughly enjoyed
the experience. Each one of them received a
prize for being so brave and so beautiful.
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| June 7, 2008
“AFRICAN” QUEEN FOR A DAY
PRETORIA BRANCH
This was a day that we had been waiting for with great anticipation,
Queen for a day…….African Theme.
This day was organized by Araffa and Tawni and sponsored by Farm Inn,
The conference room was set up with round tables and set with
beautiful table cloths, cutlery and glasses. There were gift boxes at
each setting decorated with a picture of an African Queen with a gem
applied to her headdress to add some glitz and glamour to the boxes
filled with sweet goodies and bangles.
The princesses arrived and were welcomed by the RFAD volunteers who
handed out “Queen for a Day” T shirts to each one and escorted them to
their seats. The girls had hardly arrived when it was announced that
they were going to be taken on a game drive. The excitement was obvious
when they were loaded onto open safari vehicles for the drive. They were
shown Leopard, Cheetah, Tigers and Lions that were kept in camped off
spaces. They were invited to touch some of these animals and did so with
a bit of reluctance at first. I believe the highlight of the drive was
to pat and have a real close up look at a lion cub! By this time the
shyness and quiet participation was a thing of the past and all the
girls were babbling with excitement!
When the girls arrived back at the conference room it was time for the
crowning of the princesses into well deserving Queens.
The girls were seated on a red velvet chair, crowned and a sash draped
over the shoulder by one of the princesses.
A well appreciated lunch of burgers, chips and a pink milkshakes were
served after the crowning. After lunch the girls entertained the adults
and had fun at dancing to African drum music.
The “queens” were put back on the bus heading home amidst waving and
blowing of kisses at the volunteers.
What a perfect ending to a
perfect African day!
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|
DURBAN BRANCH
The
day was beautiful and we arrived at the modelling agency quite early to
set up. As the girls started to arrive, the excitement grew. We had
put all the goodie bags out on their chairs and then gave each girl
their special t-shirts and tiaras. They loved them and wore them all
day. Once all the girls had arrived, Lindsay, the top model, gave a
talk and then divided the girls into 2 groups. While one group sat and
had their hair done and makeup put on, the other group were shown the
ins and outs of practical posing and walking down the runway. After
about 45 minutes the two groups swapped over. A tea party had been laid
out for them with cakes, sweets, juice, savouries, burgers and
vegetables. They all really enjoyed the food.
In the afternoon, all the girls were dressed up into pretty dresses,
tiaras and sash and had individual photos taken. They then each had
photos taken with Lindsey, who holds a Miss Supermodel title.
A good time was had by all. The girls went home with goodie bags from
REACH FOR A DREAM as well as from Ice Models. Ice Models also presented
them with a certificate.
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| June 6, 2008
Port Elizabeth
TEDDY BEARS PICNIC
It was a beautiful sunny afternoon when 11 very excited little girls had
a date with a teddy bear! On their arrival at the park they found a
beautifully decorated picnic site, all in pink and purple, with their
own teddy bear waiting for them.
After playing musical parcel each girl received a Bratz gift with
accessories.
The fun then started with a make-up session for every girl. They then
had their nails done and clips were put in their hair. They just loved
all the attention!
The beauty Queen, Lisa, joined us and she told the girls how special and
beautiful each one of them were. She showed them how to walk down the
red carpet with attitude and each little girl had the chance to walk
down the red carpet and was crowned as our very special Queen For A Day.
 
|
|
DATE: June
10, 2006 |
| LOCATION: Dora
Nginza Hospital |
|
The girls had a wonderful time,
and truly become queens for the day, week and probably month! The email
from our co-ordinator at the Port Elizabeth branch that came through
this morning said that she couldn't emphasise enough the value of having
QFAD as a project. The day really made such a difference to the children
- especially true for this State hospital where conditions can be quite
harsh at times... There were children who were able to participate in
the day that probably won't see the week out, but at least we know
that the day really made such a difference in their short lives. |
|
DATE: December
1, 2005 |
| LOCATION:
Universitas Hospital in Bloemfontein |
|
This
little girl had to stay in bed while we did the face painting, but
afterwards we went to the wards and found her in bed and crowned her
Queen for the Day - on her birthday.
She
enjoyed it very much.
 This
little girl came with the doctor to the Queen for a Day outing. She had
just spoken to her mother on the doctor’s phone while she were there and
was very upset. By the time we painted her face and gave her the crown
she was all smiles and very happy.
Even the
smallest of them
all was
crowned.........
……. and
the boys joined in and proudly worn their crowns!!!!!
They
also had a feast with the balloons that were given to them.
|
|
DATE: September
17, 2005 |
| LOCATION:
Pretoria |
|
Pretoria's most recent
function took place on the 17th September. The special day was held
Yvette's Decor Cafe where the girls were treated to a teaparty in the
garden, with little tables set with cookies, sweets, cold drinks and a
beautiful 'Fairy Cake'
As the girls arrived
they were all dressed into beautiful fairy costumes, that were
sponsored by friends, and the girls were transformed into enchanting
little fairies. They had their make up put on and pampered.
After the crwoning and
photo session they enjoyed their fairy party. Not only were they
giving their fairy costumes to take home, but every girl also received
two beautiful necklaces. As it always happens, 6 of our little girls
were too sick to come to the QFAD party that day - fortunately we were
able to take back to the hospital a fairy costume for each one, bring
smiles to these girls as well.
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|
DATE: September
20, 2005 |
| LOCATION:
CRAWFORD SCHOOL LA LUCIA |
|
As
reported by Sarah Whitfield
I cannot say how grateful I am to all
the wonderful people who made this day possible for these amazing
children.
Their little
faces lit up as they walked through the doors of the hall that was so
beautifully decorated. There were several tables in the middle of the
hall with pink and purple table cloths, pink Barbie muffins and a goodie
bag with a magic wand sticking out of it.
The little girls
ran so fast to claim their place at these magical tables. They were
greeted by several fairies who were dressed up and looked enchanting!
They all coloured in for a while and ate some of the sweets and chips,
then went to get all “made-up” by the make-up fairies!
Above the
make-up stations, where the kids were getting made so pretty, were
balloons and decorations that must have taken such hard work to prepare.
The girls all
had pretty faces now and a beautiful crown on their heads.
For the adults,
there was a huge range of spectacular eats and devine hot coffee.
Next, it was
time for the girls to be crowned “Queen for a Day”. They also had their
pictures taken with a real beauty princess. >>>>>>>>>, a pupil at
Crawford is the current Miss Teen SA.
One by one the
girls were called up on stage. They received their flowers, sat in the
“chair”, and smile so elegantly – they then received yet another present
and were applauded by everyone ….. they must have felt so very special,
each and everyone of them.
All this time
the children were eating to their hearts content. I checked with the
nurse and she said it was ok! “Too much sugar?” I asked. “Nothing’s
too much for these kids”, she replied.
Lastly, the
girls played lots of games such at hot potato, musical sit-down, simon
says and just plain dancing.
By the end of
the day, the kids were perspiring and yawning.
The thing that
most impressed me was how much the Crawford girls go SO involved. They
jumped and ran and screamed just as much (if not more) than the children
did.
I left with a
warm heart, very emotional, yet inspired. I had so much fun and will
definitely do it again – it has taught me a lot about the type of
children we are involved with. Thank you for the experience.
|
|
DATE: April
16th, 2005 |
| LOCATION:
Johannesburg |
|
The venue, Taboo in Sandton, was generously donated to us
for the function. 50 girls from Bara, JHB Gen and Sparrows Ministries
enjoyed a morning of pampering and fun with the aim being to transport
the girls into the world of a beauty queen.
The girls had make-up expertly applied by a team of
beauty therapists from the Camelot Beauty School who kindly donated
their time and skills. The girls were taught how to walk down the
modeling ramp by former Miss SA, Vanessa Carrera and runner-ups from the
Miss SA contest. This year’s Miss SA and Miss Teen SA and each girl,
sporting her own tiara and rose, enjoyed a photo shoot. The tiaras were
once again kindly donated by Beauty Value. And…the girls were treated to
entertainment by Princess Rose and a party with scrumptious delights,
generously provided by Antimo Foods, Vicky Crease and Lolly’s Home
Industry to round off the morning.
Reach for a Dream sincerely thanks all the sponsors for
their donations and efforts in making Queen for a Day such a sterling
success! Well done to the volunteers too whose help we could not do
without!
|
|
DATE: April 9th, 2005 |
| LOCATION:
Pretoria University |
|
On Saturday the
9th of April 25 little girls were taken to Magrietjie hostel at Pretoria
University, where students dressed in different fantasy costumes met
them and gave them each a Barbie T Shirt. They were then lead down a
rose petal pathway, to where lovely party tables, a jumping castle and a
throne was waiting for them.
After being
pampered and made to look like a queen with make-up and nail polish,
Barbie came and crowned each one.
What made this
day so very special was the fact that each student took a little girl,
looked after her, played with her and just made her feel so special and
wanted.
|
|
DATE: October
2004 |
| LOCATION: Port
Elizabeth |
|
14 girls attended queen for a day, most
of them were overwhelmed by what was happening, but soon warmed up and
enjoyed the attention.
Our local Miss Port Elizabeth, help to
"make-up" the girls after which each received roses, wore a queen for
a day sash, and each of them were crowned queen for a day. All the
girls had a chance to have their photo taken with Miss Port
Elizabeth which made them feel even more special. The photo's were
returned to them the next day, we find most of them still in bed with
their crowns still on.
|
|
DATE:
March 27, 2004 |
| LOCATION:
Pumulani Lodge, Pretoria,
South Africa |
| Saturday,
27 March was a beautiful summer morning and the peaceful Pumulani Lodge
was the ideal location where our girls from all our hospitals and Mohau
Centre for Aids were taken to be treated, pampered and crowned.
They really only started to
realize what was happening when the Rag Queen of Pretoria University, a
TV Star and other helpers started with the make up and manicures. We
also had our one critical girl that very quickly told the person doing
her nails “You have missed a spot”.
The smiles and excitement
when each one was crowned by our Rag Queen, just once again showed that
no matter how young or sick, to be beautiful and to be crowned is also a
dream come true.
After the crowning they were
all spoilt with gifts, given a tiara to take home as a keepsake and then
they enjoyed the lovely party.
The memory lingered on when
each one was given a photo of her being the Reach For A Dream Queen For
A Day!
|
|
DATE: September
6, 2003 |
|
LOCATION:
Chris Hani
Baragwanath Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa |
A
beautiful expensive tiara was donated to us to be used for photographic
purposes, the sash was also done for us at a highly discounted price by
the same company that manufactures the Miss South Africa sashes. These
items will be kept for each function. The little girls were given other
tiaras to keep, and they absolutely loved them and would not take them
off!! Even the older girls kept them on the whole day.
The make-up was sponsored by Yardley and each girl also got a little
gift packet with nail polish and lipstick. The make-up was applied by
the ladies from Camelot, which is a very exclusive beauty treatment
institute in South Africa. Tinkerbell packets were also donated to us
and these made the younger girls very happy - they also contained
lipstick and nail polish.
We held the function in the Clinic facility which is directly next to
the Wards. There were 17 girls altogether, ranging from 2-19 years of
age. The room was kindly decorated by a lady who is a party organiser
and she also catered the food, which was wonderful child-friendly party
food. We had so much to eat and drink that the little boys and the
nursing staff in the Wards also joined us for tea. The party organiser
made each little girl and boy a party pack filled with sweets and
interesting goodies, such as pencil cases and pens etc.
We had two Beauty Queens present, one was a former Miss South Africa,
Peggy-Sue Khumalo and the other Bridget Masinga, who was the runner up
for the Miss South Africa title last year. We specifically chose these
Beauty Queens because the girls would recognise them. Unfortunately
Peggy-Sue has framed her crown and sash, so she could not wear it, and
Bridget brought her sash. The girls loved them and they were wonderful
with the children. Both of them have worked with us on previous
occasions.
As mentioned before, once the little girls were all pampered out, the
little boys joined in for something to eat and then we had wonderful
entertainment in the form of "Josephine", the Fairy Lady. The children
loved her and she sang songs with them and also gave them all presents
(the little boys got balsam wood aeroplanes to build and the little
girls received hand puppets which they needed to create themselves).
Josephine has cut 5 CD's of children's songs and offered her services
free of charge. What was particularly touching is that she made the
children feel special. She explained to them that no matter what you
look like, whether you have black hair or blonde hair, whether you are
tall or short or whether you are fat or thin, you are special and she
made the children repeat this out loud several times. This was very
touching as we had a little girl present who had her leg amputated.
Josephine asked the children questions as to who had blue eyes etc, and
when she asked them who had one leg this little girl was so proud to put
her hand up! It really was something special to witness. |
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