Youth Day in Mitchells Plain got a big rev from a collection of car crews ready and willing to give back to their communities.
Bobby Nitro knew this was in the pipeline months ago when Justin Booysen from the T3 Buslovers crew called to talk about an event they were wanting to organise. With such a long preparation time, Bobby knew it was going to be something special.
Growing out of a WhatsApp group that was about sharing restoration info and sourcing parts, in 2019 the T3 Buslovers held their first hook-up as a crew of people who own the iconic T3 Microbus.
Last time Bobby chatted to Justin, he described the T3 as a form of freedom, that Microbus owners always seemed to be on some kind of holiday, and that there was no better vehicle to load in friends and family and go out and about.
The crew has extended that sense of family to include the children of Tafelsig Primary, who they treated to a Youth Day of good fun and wholesome food.
Justin says: “We have a passion for charity work, making friends and becoming family. This particular idea was started by vice-chairman Nadeem Fredericks, who had the idea to give back to the community in a big way.”
Nadeem adds: “My passion for helping kids really started when my daughter passed away three years ago, just before her 18th birthday, so now I help out wherever I can. Every week I take a pot of food around.”
He says the highlight of the day, and other days like this, is to see the smile on the kids faces and to know that they are safe, have somewhere to go for the day.”
Justin tells of how the idea snowballed after Nadeem started their social media, with other clubs coming on board under the collective name of The Brotherhood, which can best be described as a grouping of like-minded car enthusiasts who are using their resources and know-how to help out in the community where they can.
On Friday, the clubs met up at Westgate Mall and convoyed together to Tafelsig Primary in Mitchells Plain, where Justin and Nadeem had been since early, organising the pots of akni, breyani and soup, plus a bakkie load of apples that were converted into kid-friendly toffee apples.
DJ Gizmo kindly offered the audio equipment and his DJ services for the day, making the event that much more possible.
Justin says: “We had music, and the kids sang their hearts out, requesting Temple Boys at every turn. They got so excited at one stage we had to draw gentle boundaries, crowd control for laaities kind of thing.” It sounds like MC Ashley Pienaar had his hands full in keeping the people going.”
Justin adds: “Then when the motorbikes came around the corner it cleared the dancefloor and the kids went berserk, crowding around to be the nearest to the rev-off.”
The funding for the day comes from the car clubs themselves, proof that the car scene itself reflects community helping community. And when you’re driving a T3 Microbus, you can do so with that many more people in your cabbie, with decent legroom nogal!
Bobby Nitro event
Opel Cartel community outreach is hosting a peaceful gathering on Saturday at the Promenade Mall from 3pm to 5pm.
They are calling on all car clubs to come together as one, in not the light but the dark shadow cast by the tragic accident last month that killed five children in Mitchells Plain.
The gathering aims to raise awareness around scholar overloading in school transport, unlicensed and unroadworthy vehicles driving children, and demonstrate that this cannot be tolerated in our communities.