We’ve served over 50,000 free school breakfast to the most vulnerable kids in the townships of Cape Town, South Africa since our program began in August 2014.
On an annualized basis for 2015/6 we expect to serve around 200,000 free school breakfasts to vulnerable kids between the ages of 1 and 6 as part of our expanded program to build and rebuild Early Childhood Development facilities (nursery day care). The free breakfasts and new facilities form part of a matrix of sustainable aid and social venture creation within the townships. We go further. Providing WASH (water health and sanitation) training for the kids, we know is a crucial part of the program.
Here’s a little to explain why this intervention is urgently needed:
We all know the common sense reality that hungry children can’t learn at school and that the most crucial years of a child’s physical and intellectual development are 1 to 6 years old. Breakfasts alone are not enough to ensure these vulnerable kids get the best start they can to their lives. By providing new facilities and buildings, by ensuring working toilets and toilet training and by offering teacher training and entrepreneurial advice to the owners of the ECD’s we build we complete the matrix needed to offer comprehensive support. It doesn’t end there. We believe in our mantra of ‘support, learn, act adapt’ analyzing the impact and, sometimes, the lack of it, in each of our projects every month – we do all this, above all, because we believe the only way for these children to escape poverty is through education. We believe that there is no other way to break the cycle of destitution. None.
The end of 2015 sees us with 12 new ECD’s in our portfolio, that’s 12 new social ventures owned by the teachers, educating and feeding around 500 of the most vulnerable kids in the community, every school day. It represents around 400 women able to leave their kids in a clean, safe environment to either go to work or look for work. It’s over 50 full time jobs for the women who are teachers in these ECD’s. We are proud of what we’ve achieved this year and we’ll continue until every single child in the townships has access to a safe and clean environment to begin the journey of fulfilling their full potential.
The Afri-CAN Charity is committed to the alleviation of poverty in all its forms, from hunger to opportunity. The organization will be announcing over 6 new initiatives and subsidiaries throughout 2016, covering numerous sectors and announcing exciting partnerships in the areas of retail, agriculture, hospitality, education and sports.
SUPPORT, LEARN, ACT, ADAPT.
14th December 2015.