About Us
Since 2006, we have been actively involved in promoting positive change in Africa. Our programs are designed to enrich the lives of disadvantaged communities and promote the preservation of the environment.
Our vision is to:
According to the recent World Bank Poverty and Equity Report (2020), Approximately 55.5 percent(30.3 million people) of the South African population is living in poverty at the national upper poverty line while a total of 13.8 million people (25 percent) are experiencing food poverty.
Our small organisation works hard to assist those closest to us in our communities who suffer from the effects of poverty by implementing projects that teach skills development, provide immediate food relief and provide alternative opportunities to meet basic needs.
Our food security projects include the building of greenhouses out of 2l pop bottles, and implenetation of vegtable gardens for both individuals and families. We also operate a number of pop-up soup kitchens for communities who don’t have access to daily healthy meals. Our project has been involved in soup kitchen renovations as well as emergency food parcel distribution.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of TB and HIV in the world and TB remains the hightest cause of death for those infected with HIV. Our school HIV education program has successfully educated hundreds of high school children on facts about HIV and TB. Our TB screening program encourages individuals to seek available treatment and our sports programs include HIV workshops which are fun and educational for the younger kids.
Education is the main focus of the majority of our projects. Unless inforatmion is available to people, they are not equpipped to make positive changes in their lives. Our education programs have included homework support and career guidance, and consistently pre-school support. Our literacy and numeracy programs have given children a head start when the begin primary school, with an increased enrolment rate. To enrich these programs, we have adopted a number of pre-schools and renovated the facilities.
A childs’s gender has a profound impact on their future in Africa. With one of the hightest rates of gender inequality in the world, our mission has been to encourage confidence and educate young girls about options for their future. Our Girls Empowerment Program is targeted at high school girls and covers topics such as body image, career guidance, skills training, encouraging a safe space for open discussions.
Entrepreneurship is key to economic growth where there is a large lack of jobs, and with the impact of the recent pandemic. With our business empowerment program, we encourage people to learn needed skills and fill a niche in their community. A number of our workshops have centred around using waste as a resource which is a theme found in many of our programs. Our programs aim to transfer skills and assist with incubating and launching small businesses.
Once again, education is key to sustainability. Where poverty is rife, sustainability is not a priority. We were the first organisation to implement the Recycling Swop Shop in the Garden Route – a recycling exchange initiative for kids which encourages children to clean up their environment, recycle their waste, and in exchange receive tokens for a shop selling toiletries, books, clothing, toys etc. This program also ties in with our workshops which use examples from nature to build sustainable communities. We have also begun teaching children about eco-bricks, making useable items such as chairs and tables from them, as well as retaining walls for gardens. These are made from 2L pop bottles and non-recyclable waste.
Our action against plastic pollution programs include the Recycling Swop Shop, Eco-brick production, beach clean ups and creating products using waste as a resource. We also work to reduce the number of alien invasive plants in our surrounding community – notably the extremely harmful wattle, eucalyptus and pine which affects our local tree species, reduces water availability and increases fire danger – all amplifying the effects of climate change. We run competitions in schools to encourage awareness around energy and water wastage and environmentally friendly alternatives to systems. Our climate change program includes a tree planting aspect to encourage the amazing biodiversity that exists in our province.
We are fortunate to based along one of the most pristine coastlines in the world. We have been actively running tidal pool workshops for local kids to encourage a passion for our natural heritage – local kids are also not often able to experience the beach in this way. Since 2010 we have been running a research program on the indicator intertidal species and population changes in partnership with an ongoing scientific project. We facilitate beach clean ups consistently, highlighting an ongoing problem of plastic notably macro and micro-beads.
Our mission to restore the environment includes projects that encourage biodiversity and thriving eco-systems. All of our programs consider the environment and our impact on it. Reducing our waste, finding earth friendly alternatives to existing systems, promoting sustainability and educating the community are all part of our integral ethos. With backgrounds in zoology, biodiversity and environmental management, our team are truly passionate about integrating these principles in all of our programs.