Swiss4Afrika Project Youth Educational Fund program
Swiss4Afrika work to break cycles of poverty in South Africa, addressing four of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health & Well-Being and Quality Education.
We work with local non-profit organisations, focusing on sustainable solutions to address needs of accommodation, education and access to healthcare (both physical and mental).
We provide skills, resources and know-how so that they can better address the needs of their communities and be self-sustainable in the long term.
Swiss4Afrika is currently assisting two registered charities in South Africa who are financially struggling. These charities do not receive any government funding or aid from any other NGO’s, nationally or internationally.
Soli Deo Gloria Care Centre (Soli) in Lydenburg, South Africa is one of the charities Swiss4Afrika is supporting currently as a project. Soli is currently a Non-Profit Charity who cares for the destitute people of Lydenburg. Soli has +/- 180 people of all ages, sex, race and religion living with them.
These people found themselves homeless and, on the street, due to a range of circumstances. Currently the children at Soli performs under their expected levels at school. This is due to the lack of Early educational opportunities as a result of growing up in an impoverished environment. https://solideogloriacarecentre.org/
Equal education opportunities for minority groups living in homeless shelters. Most children of homeless people does not have the same support to attend proper school and participate in school events, Swiss4Afrika gives them that opportunity.
Equal education opportunities for minority groups living in homeless shelters. Most children of homeless people does not have the same support to attend proper school and participate in school events, Swiss4Afrika gives them that opportunity.
In Soli there are currently 35 children living in poverty, some with their parents, some with a single mother and some orphaned due to various circumstances.
None of the children have been to nursery, kindergarten or pre-school and none have received any early education.
In primary school, grade 1 (age 7), they are in classes of 40 children per teacher. Most of the children cannot read or write at this stage. These children start school behind the other children and when they need a little extra attention to catch up, they don't get it.
Their living conditions and lack of exposure to life experiences play a role in their ability to catch up with children from normal families.
Most of these children miss one or two years of school, and for some this spells disaster.
There are 35 children at the Soli Deo Gloria Care Centre, 18 of whom are of school age. 17 of these children (including the 7 we already support) are in primary school and due to the lack of early education facilities such as Kita, Kinder Garden or Preschool, these children found it very difficult to enter normal primary school when they started at the age of 7.
None or very few of them can read or write by the time they reach grade 1 in public primary school. They start their young academic lives behind and very few manage to catch up. The result is that they fall further and further behind, eventually leaving the school environment very early and most certainly repeating the cycle of poverty into which they were born.
Swiss4Afrika and Soli aim to enrol all current primary school children in the same program of remedial education mentioned above. Swiss4Afrika, Soli and the primary school social worker are very concerned that the remaining 10 children will not be able to catch up with their other classmates.
We need funds to ensure these young people get the education they deserve. Equal education is one of the SDG pillars of the UN and we believe the only way to combat poverty.
Would you be a partner with us on this mission? Join us now. www.swiss4afrika.com