The Seven Passes Swop Shop is the flagship project of Seven Keys, a social upliftment NPO, focused on youth and environmental development in the area. It is just one of 17 shops that are now dotted around the country, with each one adapted to its particular area and its needs.
This particular swop shop works as follows: children between the ages of three and 18 collect recyclable materials from their homes and neighbourhood, separate it into supplied bags and take the sorted materials to the brightly painted container on the local school field every Wednesday afternoon. They weigh the bags, are awarded tokens per kilogram and are then able to redeem these tokens for much needed goods. For many of these kids, it's the first time they've been able to go into a shop and choose something for themselves, something they've always wanted - a teddy bear, crayons, shoes, bags or blankets.
The original project was started in 2002 in Hermanus, when Marilyn van der Velden went into the local community on Christmas day to give out sweets to the underprivileged children. She noticed the large amounts of recyclable litter strewn on the streets as well as the kids who were just milling about, and a quiet flash of inspiration struck.
The Seven Passes project was started in September 2011 through the combined efforts of Eunice Lodewyk and Gareth Pretorius. They realised it had potential in the Rheenendal community, but neither could imagine just how successful it would become. About 500 kids have passed through its doors bringing with them about a ton of recycling every month.
The shop is stocked through the kindness and generosity of a network of donors and the recycling is sold to a company in George, which provides a small trickle of income back into the project. A few of the dedicated, unemployed local women have thereby also been able to draw a small stipend for their tireless commitment. The fabulous little Knysna coffee shop, The Tin House Café has provided incredible support since the inception of the project, offering a free cappuccino for every generous bag of donated goodies dropped-off at the restaurant.
But it is a rollercoaster for this little project. When the shop is well-stocked, the kids stream in, bringing recycling that they've gone hunting for – mud-encrusted beer bottles of shapes and sizes that haven't been seen for years, thoughtlessly discarded plastic from the edges of the forest and every bit of scrap paper they can salvage from the school bins. But when donations run low, interest wanes and it takes a few weeks to rebuild the momentum.
At the end of last year, Seven Keys launched a project that is destined to become an annual initiative. The Toys For Joy Xmas Toy Drive aimed to give something back to every child who had been through the swop shop and helped make the project a success. A call went out through the various media channels and the response was overwhelming. Packets and boxes streamed in, from gift-wrapped toys off shop shelves, to forgotten favourites exiled to the backs of cupboards.
Then on a sweltering day just before Christmas, the volunteers had their hands full with hundreds of excited, wide-eyed kids who were able to stroll through a container that had been converted into a veritable Santa's Toyland.
Games were played, toys were self-chosen, treats were greedily gorged and Christmas in Rheenendal had just a little extra sparkle - all as a result of a remarkable concept called a Swop Shop.
For more information on the Seven Passes Swop Shop, Seven Keys, or how to become involved, contact Gareth Pretorius on 082 696 7882, email sevenkeysnpo@gmail.com or leave a message on the Facebook page, - '7 Passes Swop Shop'. Every little bit helps and is deeply appreciated.
Eager to exchange trash for goods at the Seven Passes Swop Shop are (in front, from left) Nathan Talmagies, Eshwill Terblanche, Cedric Hannies, Jesray Williams, Zaiden Williams, Wuldren Malgas, Thandile Mavuma, Brayton Smith, Carlo Oelf and (in the back) Graig Pegrim and Ravin Erasmus.
