Live 4 Cape Town

What gives someone a hunger for change? When does someone begin dreaming again?  What gives us renewed hope?  What would it take to believe that we are capable of leading the life we really want to, deserve and were purposed for?

In many cases, it just takes one person to really believe in you before you do so yourself. But for most of us, unconditional acceptance and love is vital before we can truly begin transforming on the road to fulfillment and personal success

 So what do we do?  LifeXchange focuses on holistic, sustainable, transformation of youth-at-risk, through the ‘holistic life mentoring process’ aka HLMP.  We use extreme sports and adventure activities to make initial connection with these troubled youth and from there facilitate the development of one-on-one mentorship relationship where these extreme sports and adventure activities serve as an opportunity for shared learning experiences between mentor and mentee.  We also assess and evaluate everything in the individual young person’s life to determine where “they are at” and what is required in what areas of their life to change their life story turning it into a success story.  We’ve had gangsters become dive instructors, drug lords become qualified tour guides, street drunkards and ‘fighters’ become designers.  Their stories continue to amaze us and although these are all the big successes we can boast about, we see success in these young people’s lives daily.

To make it more visual and tangible there’s a great 8min DVD you can also watch on our home page www.lifexchange.co.za which is about one of our guys from Ocean View.  It paints a great picture of who we work with and in what environment.

We have 64 young people in LifeXchange and the money received by you will go towards placing more youth-at risk, like Ricardo, into our LifeXchange process.  These are not just faces, but young adults whom we can share with you their stories, their journey, their walk towards change and it will be thanks to your investment in their future.

There are many people in the greater Cape Town area who are social changemakers and are trying to make the world around them a better place. Many of these individuals and organisations have even posted to this web site today.

However, good intention can only go so far, and many such changemakers operate by themselves because they do not know about all the others out there working in similar fields such as social development, urban agriculture, etc. This leads to inefficiencies as different people try to solve the same problems without collaboration or economies of scale.

The HUB Cape Town solves this problem by providing a physical space where likeminded individuals can come together. The HUB provides workspace for social changemakers and organises regular events which bring people together to meet and collaborate. Through working together, the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts and efficiencies are gained. This is absolutely critical in a resource- and money-poor environment like South Africa where the need is so great and the stakes are so high that we cannot afford not to collaborate, and collaborate quickly and efficiently.

Our web site can be found at http://capetown.the-hub.net/public/index.html.

Dear Imogen and Friends.

Morning Star is a day care centre for children infected with  HIV/AIDS. The aim of this facility is to alleviate the children’s suffering, as well as their families.It all started with 8 Children and now has over 405 children who have passed through their doors in the last ten years,94 of which are fetched from their houses daily and then provided with meals, clothes and medication as well educational activities and love.

They receive donations from overseas mainly and this is essentially what they rely on to keep themselves open.

A new branch in a neighbouring township was also opened in 2008.

The services that they provide at current are:

-Schooling to Grade 2 level with experienced teachers. 

-Support Group meetings for the parents and families providing counsel and advice for HIV.

- Monthly food parcels that are distributed to the children’s families’ house. Currently there are 113 being delivered monthly. They contain a few essentials to get through the month.

-Tshedisanang Women’s Project where women infected with HIV/AIDS make beautiful clothing and embroidery to and make a living from it.

There are many other services that have gone unmentioned that Morning Star provides.

I really feel that they are a great project in the Free State that deserve all the funding they can get in one of the most affected regions in S.A of HIV/AIDS. They have 125 Children on a waiting list and only extra funding will be able to provide Morning Star with the opportunity to help them.

www.morningstar.org.za

=) I hope you feel as passionately about them as I do.

Sakhumzi is a Non-profit Organization which provides a home for destitute children in the Mfuleni area, a township 25 km east of Cape Town. Its humble beginnings originated 35 years ago when Amelia Poswa took in her first homeless child. Almost immediately Sakhumzi took on a life of its own as more and more abandoned children found their way into Mama’s Amelia’s home and Mama Amelia’s heart.

Over the years many hundreds of children have been provided with more than just the basics of food, shelter, clothing and education. They have been blessed with the love, guidance and attention that’s so essential to growing children if they’re to lead normal, healthy lives and become productive members of society.

“What makes me happy,” says Mama Amelia, “is to see a safe, happy child. My calling is to look after children because that child is the future. At the time I never knew it would go on for so long. I started with just a few and in no time there were 15, 20 – just as if it was waiting for someone to say ‘I can do that!’.


“When a child comes here from a broken family, where the mother doesn’t want her, the other children welcome her. We know what that child is going through. That child needs someone to take the place of her parents, who can give her a home, with brothers and sisters that can cuddle her and help her forget about what happened and get on with life”.

“Once they finish their schooling, some of our children remain at Sakhumzi to help with the day-to-day running of our home, while others attend local career training colleges, if and when funds are available for this. Some are fortunate enough to obtain employment soon after leaving school, but jobs are scarce. No child leaves Sakhumzi until he or she can fend for themselves”. Today, Sakhumzi provides a loving home for 95 children and a crèche for almost 150 preschoolers.

http://www.sakhumzi.org/

Driving through the City of Cape Town it is sadly very hard to ignore the many boys begging on the streets. These boys have fled their poverty-stricken and broken home environments in search of a better life. What they find unfortunately is an invisible existence plagued with substance and physical abuse, hunger and neglect.

The Homestead is a non-profit organisation that has operated in Cape Town for over 28 years and has been recognised nationally and internationally for their best practice four-phase model used to rehabilitation street children. Their mission is to help street children reconstruct their shattered lives, and become confident contributing citizens of our nation.

They do this in two ways, by focusing on each individual boy’s pursuit of education, and by working  towards family reunification. By doing so they work not only with the boys, but with their families too

The Homestead has also recognised the need for preventative services as well as curative, and now run a series of early intervention programmes which seek to prevent children from resorting to life on the street, where they are robbed of a childhood and dignity, and much of the developmental damage is done.

The Homestead are currently fundraising to build their very own child and youth care centre in the heart of Khayelitsha. They  aim to create a safe space where the boys will be encouraged to take responsibility for their own futures and actions, and empower them to become valuable members of their communities.

Each boy that will reside at the centre is back in mainstream schooling, have big dreams and most are succeeding at the activities in which their talent lies. The Homestead enables these boys to have a second chance, and then gives them the opportunity to individually take ownership of their lives and build their futures.

Greenpop plants trees in underprivileged and under-greened areas. They focus their activities on education, economic bridging and social upliftment through greening. They have planted over 2000 trees at over 60 beneficiary locations in the last 4 months. The campaign has been growing at an incredible rate, and the results have been phenomenal. The Greenpop team are desperatley trying to buy their own bakkie to transport their trees with. So far the entire campaign is run through a network of like minded individuals, who offer their help towards this noble cause. Help Greenpop and join the Treevolution!

 

REACH is an organization that addresses sexual harassment and violence against women, including other interlinking factors, on farms and communities of the Western Cape. REACH was founded in 2005 as a response to a research project that exposed the high prevalence of these abuses in farming communities while also exposing lack of programs and support services for those whose lives were affected by these social problems.
REACH’s strategy is multi-pronged: we provide awareness raising, training, and counselling and legal support; we engage in annual campaigns (our annual S.A. Rural Women’s Day Campaign has increased in popularity over the past five years); and we conduct research to inform our advocacy activities which seeks to highlight gaps in laws and policies, such as the lack of a law on sexual harassment so that real long term change can be created for women in our country.
While we have made great strides and affected positive changes since our inception lack of funding is playing a major challenge. It was with sheer determination, passion and compassion that we have brought REACH to where we are today and we cannot lose (and will not lose) this very precious organization that has done amazing work empowering and enriching the lives of thousands of women – those we call our agents of change. Eradicating abuse and violence against is and needs to be a priority for all!
Help us get one step closer to our dream. We would truly be honoured if we would be considered as a worthy charity with Imogen Heaps rare and very special event.
www.reach.org.za

Step-Up 4 Life is a young and dynamic youth led organization established in 2009 passionate about promoting social responsibility amongst youth.

We all bear witness to the endless social challenges that confronts youth today and that plays a key role in perpetuating the cycle of hopelessness whether it is drug abuse, unemployment, abuse etc.

At Step-Up 4 Life we believe despite this, Youth have a vital role to play in positively contributing to their community and changing society. Step-Up 4 Life strive to inspire and nurture a more caring and empathetic generation of young people who will take the lead in positively changing their communities.

Through our ‘We can do it’ educational programme we request high school learners (Grade10-12) to identify a non-profit organization in their community and to volunteer time and mobolise resources for their chosen organization. Through spending time and mobolising support they become more socially conscious and empathetic to the needs of the people serviced through that organization.

In return Step-Up 4 Life runs educational workshops and camps where we equip them with knowledge and skills to better advocate for their cause. Our core capacity building areas include Leadership Development, Fundraising, Events Management, Good Governance and Accountability, Engaging the media and Marketing and Public Speaking. 

If you should consider us a recipient of the donation it will go directly to the Weekend Youth Camp for 25 young people aimed at equipping them with some of the key areas highlighted above. This will also be a fun and exciting opportunity for them to meet learners from different backgrounds.  The youth camp serve as a significant feature in the ‘WE can do it’ Programme as it is an exciting opportunity for learners to feel part of a comradeships of young changmakers.

www.stepupforlife.org.za

The way we live these days lends itself to rather a lot of excess. There is no use pointing fingers or wasting time trying to change people’s behaviour. What is certainly worth while though is taking the excess and turning it into something or distributing it to another or others that will benefit. If this can be done at no expense to anyone we get what I have decided to call a ‘win win’ situation (you can use that by the way, go ahead, it feels good saying it and I don’t mind if you use it at will).

For two years ‘It’s Your Turn’  has been collecting dance dresses (and in fact any dress) that are hanging in cupboards not being used. Think of that Matric Dance/Prom  dress that you have kept for so many years with the intentions of … well who knows what you intend doing with it. Now there is a fantastic recipient waiting to get that dress back into action. It’s Your Turn collects the dresses you are not using any longer and then resells them in the townships to those girls that value them so dearly. The young girls from Khayelitsha, Guguletho and Langa dream of that special dress just as intensely as any others and the financial pressure that is heaped on their parents often entails a huge amount of their parent’s income to purchase the dresses. ItsYourTurn sell the dresses for a pittance and the girls keep the dress as their very own prised possession.

The money raised is then used to purchase school shoes and school uniforms for the millions (literally 7 million without school shoes) of children in our country that do not have means to purchase their own and attend school; either dressed differently to class mates and/or often barefoot.

So your dress hanging unused in the cupboard can now bring joy to the girls attending their school dance and then also make shoes and uniforms available to children without. Win win!

This image was taken just this morning (3rd Feb 2011) in Langa … girls with their brand new pair of shoes. Oh the joy!

Ryan Scott

0835771123

Hello! We are SHOUT-IT-NOW!

We focus on but are not limited to learners and teachers, educating them about HIV and AIDS using technology, local celebs who want to do their bit, pretty much anything to get their interest and try change the general attitude and stigma around HIV/AIDS and getting them TESTED!

The sobering reality is that half of 15 year olds will die from AIDS before they are 60. While we don’t promote having sex, we cannot stop them. We CAN however show them how to minimize risking their lives.

We are a non-profit organization and focus fully on the community and getting as many people tested as possible. To date we have tested almost 46,000 people and that together with responsible care (for our HIV+ clients we have developed TACT™, our Treatment and Care Transition process – we’ve partnered with local clinics that will provide free CD4 counts and ARV treatment if necessary) and we believe we are making a difference, not only to those individuals but to those communities too.

Now there are loads of organizations (usually affiliated with the government) who have constant funding that have not even come close to the figures we have achieved. This is most frustrating for us, as we have dedicated teams based in JHB and CPT targeting at least 200 people each day and we want to do so much more! Our focused teams stand in heat, busy malls, run-down schools, dangerous areas just trying to get the message across and get as many tested as possible.

With the funding, we’d buy more tests, get to remote sites, associate with more clinics and TEST MORE PEOPLE!

We NEED to stop this epidemic and save our youth and the future of not just South Africa, but Africa (and the world!) as a whole.

I’d like to please nominate TEARS, a pro-life, non-profit organisation whose core aim is to rescue, rehabilitate, re-unite and re-home lost, abandoned, abused and neglected dogs and cats.

TEARS strives to meet the needs of the underprivileged communities by:

• Providing primary health care such as vaccinations, deworming and parasite control.
  
  
• Offering free sterilisations for their companion animals.
  
  
• Providing a scheduled daily Mobile Clinic, offering basic health care (vaccinating, deworming, parasite control) and food to the animals six days a week.
  
  
• Establishing an essential working relationship with the residents to protect the rights of the animals. Empowering and supporting them through effective education, guidance and follow up.
  
  
• Providing a registered clinic on the TEARS premises, offering veterinary care for pets for any condition, illness or injury.

Daily TEARS cares for +-300 animals, providing them with food, shelter, veterinary care, exercise and positive interaction with people until they can be placed in loving homes. To help sustain their operation TEARS has three charity shops, in Bergvliet, Fish Hoek and Sunnydale and a bookshop in Bergvliet.  

In 2007 TEARS bought a beautiful 3,1 hectare property on Kommetjie Road, Sunnydale, known as Wenga Farm. TEARS intends building a world-class, eco-friendly, “green” animal shelter, and will begin planning their exciting project in the near future.

http://www.tears.org.za/

The Smile Foundation is a South African NGO that assists children with any type of facial abnormality, to receive free corrective Plastic and Reconstructive surgery within South Africa.

They help children who suffer from treatable facial abnormalities such as Cleft Lip and Palate, burn victims, Moebius syndrome (facial paralysis) and other conditions.

They are currently based in 6 Academic Hospitals around South Africa. They are investing in the medical teams they work with, through a Skills Development programme, and they assist the hospitals by purchasing equipment for use by the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

The Chief Patron Nelson Mandela’s wish is for them to assist as many children around South Africa as possible. Over the last 10 years, they have put smiles on over 600 children’s faces.

http://www.smilefoundationsa.org/

We are a section 21 company providing a mobile service accessible via even the most basic cell phones linking businesses and consumers in marginalised communities. We  currently operate in the Cape Flats but look to extend our services to the whole of South Africa and other emerging markets. Our service results in more money circulating for longer in these communities than it normally does, leading to increased turnover and profits for local businesses who then can employ more staff. Cell phone empowered, sustainable, bottom-up economic empowerment for the people!

Village of Hope is a project in Grabouw, 100km to the east of Cape Town which has an outreach to children infected or affected by HIV, AIDS and TB. Our main service is a 9 bed unit which is a home for children suffering from the effects of AIDS, and since we opened in April 2009 we have reintegrated 16 children into either their family or a foster family in the community. The children are cared for 24/7 by House Moms from the local community who really do treat these children as their own.

The oldest of our children attend local schools whilst the smaller children and babies are encouraged via play therapy and a daily educational programme to stimulate their development. Many of these children come from homes who have lost the main carer to AIDS and we work closely with the remaining family to ensure the children are (where possible) placed back with a family member.

Our other outreach is a sports-based life skills and health education programme delivering to around 200 children each week in the local townships and squatter camps in Grabouw. Since implementing this programme over 3 years ago we have seen some amazing life changing stories and we work with the children to encourage them to finish their schooling and become balanced members of their communities.

Grabouw and the surrounding area is a beautiful region, however the affects of HIV and AIDS are rarely seen by the tourist that flock to our valley. Our project sits close to the wonderful Paul Cluver Wine Estate, but the reality is that we have an HIV infection rate of nearly 34% and one of the highest TB rates in the world. Our project really is making a huge difference to the lives of hundreds of children and we trust that you will look favourably on our project!

Many thanks

Tim Walker Project Director

 

Context:

Under-resourced people, especially children, are limited in their capacity to escape a cycle of oppression when they do not have access to a proper diet. Without nutritious food they suffer from malnutrition, which makes them vulnerable to fatigue, lethargy, poor concentration, study problems and disease. It is critical to provide the under-resourced with a readily accessible, dependable and affordable supply of fresh and organic vegetables.

Solution

A GrowZone is a cluster of micro agri-businesses which enable grassroots entrepreneurs to sustain themselves financially by supplying the local market with community-grown vegetables. Supply contracts are also secured with commercial supermarkets and Government nutrition centres to ensure consistent income. 

The core of a GrowZone is a cluster of 10-20 shade cloth FoodTents which increase vegetable production significantly by protecting the vegetables from harsh growing conditions as well as from pests. The GrowZone is supplemented by complementary agri-businesses such as tree farming, composting, and earthworm farming, optimising the use of the land and reducing input costs for growing vegetables.

GrowZone entrepreneurs are prepped for success by a “business in a box” model combined with a professionally planned and organised skills transfer. Our highly qualified and experienced support team works with the entrepreneur until the business has been established and is operating successfully.

Impact potential

FoodTents significantly increase the growth rate and quality of produce compared to exposed gardens by protecting the vegetables from sun, wind, and pests, and reducing water requirements.

GrowZones produce enough vegetables to continuously provide food to 500 people throughout the year.

Agri-businesses within GrowZones reduce input costs for vegetable farming and provide income stability through diversity of products offered for sale.

One entrepreneur-in-residence is created per GrowZone.

With their “Valuable to Jesus” project Straatwerk empowers young girls to value themselves.

http://www.straatwerk.org.za/index.php/en/valuable-to-jesus-project