Chantelle Mundy spent an afternoon visiting the dinosaurs at Tamba Park for her final Battle duty for a while, as she will be heading to Canada later this month to begin a course at Vancouver Film School.
The 19-year-old, who previously worked as a video journalist at the JEP, will be back in the Island for the Christmas Battle of Flowers parade on Sunday 6 December.
Tamba Park, which includes animatronic dinosaurs up to six metres tall, opened on the site of the former Lion Park in July and a month later entered the Commercial Class in August’s Battle of Flowers parades.
It was the first commercial entry in the parade for a number of years, so Miss Battle and other parade representatives visited the park on Friday to present its owner, entrepreneur Jonathan Ruff, with the Commercial Award.
Jackie Donald, the Battle’s event director, said that it was the first time the award had been presented since 1999, when it was won by Living Legend.
‘It was fantastic to see Tamba Park taking part in this summer’s parades,’ said Mrs Donald. ‘Miss Battle and the parade’s board members would now like to encourage other commercial entries back to Battle in 2016.’
The new tourist attraction, which also includes mini boats that can be sailed across a pond, model remote-control boats, a children’s adventure park and a fish-feeding area, donates all of its profits to Mr Ruff’s charity, Ruff’s Kitchens, which feeds 5,000 vulnerable children in Zimbabwe every day.
Ruff’s Kitchens is a charity set up to feed vulnerable children at school in Zimbabwe. It currently feeds over 5,000 children every day.
All profits from Tamba Park go to Ruff’s Kitchens.
Zimbabwe is a country with very little to offer. With over 90% unemployment and no real government infrastructure, the people live very poor lives.
Children walk miles to school each day on empty stomachs. There is no food provided at school and no guarantee of a meal when they get home. These children are the future of Zimbabwe and the only hope of changing the country for the better. This is the reason Ruff’s Kitchens was born.
The charity was launched in April 2012 and is run by the Ruff family, the owners of Tamba Park. To date the charity has set up 7 kitchens in schools across the country. Each child within these schools receives a nutritious, porridge based meal packed with vitamins, which the children love. As a result of this, the schools in which Ruff’s Kitchens are operating have seen a rise in attendance and are reporting that the children are learning and developing more. This is all down to one simple meal each day.
Ruff’s Kitchens is making a huge difference to many lives, schools and communities in Zimbabwe. Due to the positive impact already made by the charity, there are plans to open more kitchens and by 2018 the aim is to be feeding over 20,000 children each day across 30 schools!
All the profits made at Tamba Park will go to support the continued operation and future growth of the Ruff’s Kitchens Charity and the work it does in Zimbabwe.
All the profits made at the Tamba Park go to Ruff’s Kitchens to make this happen.
