A Johannesburg recycler has gifted a retirement village a handmade wire Eiffel Tower – a special ‘thank you’ to the community that has welcomed him every Monday for four years!
Bedfordview, South Africa (12 April 2026) – Residents at a retirement village in Bedfordview were recently presented with a delightfully unusual gift from an unexpected source.
The seniors of Arbor Village were presented with a miniature, handmade model of the Eiffel Tower made by Isaac Moseme as a token of his gratitude for all the help he has received from the senior living residents over the years.
In 2011, Isaac left his job at a cleaning services company and started collecting waste cardboard and plastic, which he sells on to a recycling depot. For the past four years, he has visited Arbor Village every Monday morning to collect these products before the municipality removes the rest of the waste later on the same day. Then he hauls them to a depot some seven kilometres away!
Isaac says his decision to present this work of art to the village is on account of the welcome he was made to feel from the start by the security guards, maintenance staff, and residents he encountered on his visits. His task is made easier because many residents separate their garbage, and the maintenance staff consolidate the collection.
This generous gift is not a product of his work, however, but of his hobby. He learnt the art of wire modelling while at primary school on a farm in the Free State, where he was born in the auspicious year 1976. At that time, he was making the wire motor cars that are often seen in rural areas, where creative children make their own toys.
His first major project as an adult was a model of a helicopter, which he has since dismantled on the grounds that it could ‘kill someone’, shares our reader John, a resident of the village who shared this wonderful story with us!
The Eiffel Tower came next, and he has installed it near the entrance to the administration block – an exceptionally generous gift, says John.
“He is currently working on something even more ambitious: a model of the Titanic, which he plans to complete by 2 May this year. Such artistry and generosity deserve a wider audience.” John added.
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