Smiles and happy faces all around marked the handover of the 99fm, KFC and namlish.com Winter Cosy to the Hope Village on Friday, 30 July 2010.

The objective of the Winter Cosy project, which was initiated by 99fm and namlish.com and sponsored by KFC, was to generate funding to create a cosy, safe space where children of Hope Village, home for AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children, can play and read.

The project comprised of three phases that included a creative writing competition, a donation collection programme and the physical construction of a Winter Cosy at the Hope Village.

For the Creative Writing competition 99fm and namlish.com invited primary and secondary school students nationwide to write an essay on any subject of their choice. For every essay submitted into the competition, KFC contributed N$5 towards the Winter Cosy Fund. The schools that participated are St George's Diocesan Preparatory School, Edugate Academy, Delta Secondary School and Windhoek High School. In addition to earning a contribution for the Winter Cosy, the winning essays also received cash prizes to the value of N$2 500,00.

Jaké Strauss of Edugate Academy was allocated the 1st prize and Taimi Shaningwa of Delta Secondary School the 2nd prize in the Secondary School category. Ivan Semedo of St George's Diocesan Preparatory School won 1st prize and Sophia Potgieter of Edugate Academy received the 2nd prize in the Primary School category.

Other school’s that participated in the Creative Writing competition were; Dawid Bezuidenhout High school, Cosmos, Windhoek High School, Edugate Primary and Secondary school, Tsumeb Gymnasium, St George’s Diocesan Preparatory School, Pioneerspark Primary school, Delta Secondary school and Karibib private school.
The winning essays are published on namlish.com

The second phase of the winter project involved a radio telethon on 99fm that raised N$50 000, with contributions made by Newsprint Namibia, Olthaver and List, Tiger Wheel and Tyre, CJ’s service station PB in Otjiwarongo, The Namibian Sun, The Kalahari Sands Wellness Centre, Discount Paints, Asco Car Hire, Mr Von Palace, Orion Telecom, The Republikein, Glorious Essau and Keshir Entertainment.

Various donations in the form of food, clothes and blankets were also received from the general public.

After the 99fm team spent long hours and late evenings painting and fitting in the KFC Winter Cosy, the final product was successfully delivered to the Hope Village.

KFC provided food for the children in celebration of this joyous occasion. Upon acceptance of the Winter Cosy, Tania Ward of Hope Village said that this would be a space where the children could play, develop and grow. “Thank you for giving us wind beneath our wings”, Tania said. “It is initiatives like this that help up us to wake up every morning and muster the strength to carry on the good work.”

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