Great winds of playful joy in Ubombo village, South Africa

Khulumoya in isiZulu language means great wind. Great winds of playful joy are now blowing for children in Ubombo village in the South African province of Kwa-Zulu as children are playing on a wooden Finno playground provided by Lappset. Delivering the play equipment to this remote destination in the Lembombo mountains, is a result of a charity action organized by the Sound of Joy, a charity organization established in 2006 with its roots in Finland.

According to tradition, khulumoya brings along the good when blowing and abolishes the bad and sad in one’s life. The sound of a wind bell consoles and makes you feel well. The Sound of Joy is an independent non-profit charity organization that helps vulnerable children affected and infected by HIV/AIDS in southern Africa by supporting well-being, health care, education and safety. In order to do that and reach the needs of these children they work closely together with local partner NGOs.

A long journey from Finnish Lapland to Ubombo

The playground equipment travelled a long way from Lappset’s factory in Rovaniemi via Helsinki to Hamburg in Germany to Durban in South Africa and further to the final destination of Ubombo village in the Lembobo mountains through the Mkuze valley. The village of Ubombo is located close to the borders Swaziland and Mozambique.

Local residents of Ubombo assembled the equipment on site, mostly by hand, under the supervision of the chairperson of the Sound of Joy organization, vicar of the Oulujoensuu parish, Mrs Satu Saarinen and her husband Jarkko.

“The grand opening was held on Monday 14th of July 2014 in the presence of 200 local residents and children. The playground was considered safe and well assembled as all children had “tested” the equipment on site. Also son of the village chief attended the opening ceremony”, Satu Saarinen describes the opening day.

Fundraising through various events

The Sound of Joy raised money for the playground through a variety of actions in northern Finland, and donated the playground to the Ubombo Children’s Care Village, run by “Mama” Dawn Irons. The charity organization had already at an early stage of their fundraising campaign decided to place the order at Lappset Group.

“Cooperation with Lappset worked extremely well, during the years we’ve received a lot of help and support from you. Mr Jouni Koivuranta and Mrs Tuula Repo of Lappset’s customer services were involved in this project from the very beginning and helped us tremendously with many practical issues that arose along the way”, Satu Saarinen concludes.

”We really hope that we can continue our charity actions and work together with Lappset for other play areas because of the high quality and finishing touch of their playground equipment.” 

More information on the Sound of Joy on the web or on their Facebook.

A bird's nest swing allows many kids to enjoy swinging.

About one hundred children in the Ubombo village "tested" the playground 
during the opening day on 14 July 2014.