South African Abroad creates Carry On 4 Babies to help Kids back Home

A South African expat in the United Kingdom has started a wonderful initiative to allow South Africans abroad to donate second-hand clothes to help those in need back home. And right now she’s looking for ‘carry on buddies’ to carry some of the clothes back to South Africa.

“I started Carry On 4 Babies a year ago. It’s where people travelling back to South Africa sacrifice their own carry-on luggage space to take a small carry-on bag full of secondhand baby clothes back to SA, and then one of our local volunteers collects it, or it can be dropped off,” explains Lynelle Swanepoel.

“We then distribute the clothes to local charities. All of it is above the law (we’ve checked) and there is no VAT or customs issues (again, we’ve checked).

“So the point is that it is about human effort – with no money or corporate involvement…and it is about South Africans wanting to make a difference in their home country!

“We have gone global now – Dubai, Australia, France, Switzerland and Cape Town. Clothes can be taken anywhere in South Africa.

“We are looking for people right now who are willing to take some clothes back with them if they go on holiday (or business). I have 3 huge boxes full of bags! If anyone can help, I would be really grateful,” says Lynelle.

Lynelle is a working mother with a toddler son. She and her husband relocated to the UK a couple of years ago…and she found that being in a new country, without her friends around, Facebook became her ‘saviour’.

Facebook is an Expat’s Best Friend

“I love Facebook,” she writes on her business page. “I have connected with people that I have not seen or been in touch with for years and living in a foreign country, it has been my absolute saviour!!!

“I particularly love how Facebook can bring people together to do amazing things. I started this initiative after I noticed a very sad post on a Facebook page for mums in the town that I grew up in back in SA.

“A lady described how a young girl approached her to look after her baby the one day as she had to go find work to be able to support herself and her baby. She was desperate. The woman agreed and took the baby’s nappy bag from the mum. When it was time for a nappy change, the woman found that the nappy bag had no nappies in it and only a few blouses (for an adult). She then saw that what was in place of a nappy around the baby’s little bottom, was a lady’s blouse. No nappy.

“Immediately the whole community pulled together to help this young mum out. This really pulled a heartstring but I was also so touched by how all these women came forward to each help in their own small way – to either donate something or offer their time to baby sit or make food to help out this young mum.

“I occasionally log on to various freecycle websites over here in the UK and very often people state that they have a “bag of babies’ clothes, otherwise it is going to the dump!” (I can’t really blame them – people just don’t have space here in the UK and very often charity shops turn them away as “baby clothes should be new”, so people actually view it as a real hassle to take old clothes to charity shops here in the UK, and dumping them is just easier!!)

“It just did not seem right that on one side of the world people were struggling to clothe their babies and on the other, they struggled to get rid of excess baby clothes!

“But these are the times we live in. This gave me the idea of trying to take some of these clothes or other secondhand baby clothes to SA. I have been doing this ever since we moved here and it really is no effort. I have an extra small suitcase and we always take old clothes or clothes we don’t wear anymore, and distribute them to people in need in SA. And the appreciation they get is more than I ever got when I took old clothes to a charity shop here in the UK!

“So this initiative is simple. I am not asking for money – just a little time and effort. If you have a bit of spare room in your suitcase on your next visit to South Africa or Namibia, please let me know and I will supply you with some old baby clothes.”

Lynelle asks people to either be a “carry on buddy” or a “carry on donor” (who donates old baby clothes).

And “carry-on” does not just refer to the luggage that’s carried on to the plane…but also to the fact that your clothes will “carry on” in another part of the world.

“In a way it is recycling and we are helping the planet as well! Less clothes in landfills!” says Lynelle.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP – PLS VISIT WWW.FB.COM/CARRYON4BABIES