Breadline Africa donated stationery schools packs

All the learners of Riebeek Wes Primary School received a huge surprise yesterday! We presented more than 170 learners with a stationery starter pack for 2012. Some of the learners will be fitted out with brand new uniforms too.

We were told that many of the parents are seasonal workers for about twelve of the surrounding farms in the Riebeek Valley area. Rural life is not easy and the parents find it extremely difficult to make ends meet. Many of the parents rely on their child’s grant which is not much and in some instances the grants are the only income for a family.

The Grade R teacher was so happy when we presented all the kids with a stationery starter pack. She said “now she could happily start with her teaching knowing that all the children have the same stationery that is required to do the necessary tasks for their grade.”

Grade R teacher and 2 learners that received a uniform

Thank you to all our friends and supporters for making such a huge difference in the lives of so many kids. We believe that education is the key to success.

Press Release – Art prize with open entry and a role for everyone

Hope in Art is delighted to announce that the second Hope in Art competition will take place in Autumn 2011.  This biennial art competition is open to everyone over the age of 16 years and can be in any medium.  The theme for this competition is FAIR (or anything that sounds like it, e.g. fairy, pharaoh, fare).  Artists should visit www.hopeinart.com for rules and instructions for uploading images of their work so that members of the public can vote for their favourite piece.  A prize of equal value will be judged by a panel of experts.  This panel has yet to be finalised though Ralph Taylor, the director at Lazarides Galleries has agreed to chair it and Penelope Keith (actress) has accepted an invitation to be a member.  There are three generous cash prizes, plus.

• A £2,500 prize which will be awarded to the work with the most votes from the general public.
• A £2,500 prize which will be awarded to the work judged as favourite by the panel of experts from art world
• A prize of  £500 for the most imaginative “take” on the theme in organisers’ opinion
• There will also be a prize available to members of the public who register to vote.
• There is no entry fee..
• Deadline for entries October 15th 2011, voting and auction 16th October – 20th Nov

All the artwork entered in the competition will be available for sale online to members of the public, once the competition has closed.  Money received from each sale will be split between that artist and the charity Breadline Africa.

Spirit of Hope by Andrew van de Merwe. Winner of Hope in Art 2009

‘There are as many opinions about any piece of art as there are people looking at it.  A lot of people who are not involved in the art world thoroughly disagree with the choice of the judges of the Turner prize so we thought we would organise a competition where the public gets to do the judging.  And if the judging is being thrown open to everyone so should the competition itself.’ – Carole Taylor, Founder, Hope in Art

Hope in Art was established in 2008 as a not-for-profit organisation intending to raise money through the medium of art for charities working in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

About Breadline Africa:

Breadline Africa is an internationally registered charity that seeks out partnerships of hope and growth in Africa. It seeks to connect people who are struggling to achieve the most basic living conditions with others who are more fortunate and in a position to make a difference.

www.breadlineafrica.org Charity Number: 1075525

Competition sponsored by Living PlanIT www.living-planit.com

Book drive for Nelson Mandela Day

PRESS RELEASE

Book drive for Nelson Mandela Day

The Nelson Mandela Foundation, together with Breadline Africa, one of the biggest suppliers of converted containers for poverty relief in Southern Africa, have launched a book drive as part of an initiative that will see 10 library containers being placed across the country. The campaign forms part of the international Nelson Mandela Day celebrations.  

The disused shipping containers have been renovated by Breadline Africa and recycled into libraries. Over the next few months they will be placed in some of the most poverty stricken schools across the country. The schools, which were identified by Soul City, an institute for health and development communication, are severely affected by poverty. Basic access to facilities and qualified teachers is limited.

“Literacy and the right to education is a human right,” Director of Breadline Africa, Tim Smith said. “We are delighted to be working with the Nelson Mandela Foundation to ensure the roll-out of the container libraries and we encourage everyone to get involved in whatever capacity they can offer. We hope to expand this programme in the future, this will be entirely dependent on public support and finance.”

The libraries will be placed in junior schools and Breadline Africa is asking the general public to take part in the initiative by donating books to the campaign. “We need books that are new or in excellent condition, most importantly, they need to be age specific for six to ten year olds.”

“Every school should have access to a library and every child should be able to read, write and be given the means to learn; sadly this is not the case in many schools across the country. The library container initiative needs the support of the general public and corporates. We encourage everyone to get involved and help in some way on Mandela Day,” Smith said.

The following drop off posts for the books have been arranged:

Cape Town: Breadline Africa: The Salesian Institute, 2 Somerset Road, Green Point.

Johannesburg: Soul City: 1st Floor, Dunkeld West Centre, 281 Jan Smuts Avenue, Dunkeld West, Johannesburg:

For more information and to get involved email production@breadlineafrica.org.za or call 021 418 0322.

Other organisations, corporates and sponsors participating in the initiative include the Vodacom Foundation, FirstRand, FNB, LegalWise, Maskew Miller and Longman, Soul City, Biblionef, Oxford University Press and Container Conversions

ENDS

374

Distributed by Media Spot on behalf of Breadline Africa:

MD:  Tim Smith

For more information, contact Media Spot:

Beverley Houston

beverley@mediaspot.co.za

082 824 8617

Breadline Africa’s Big Make-over for Zukolwethu Educare Centre

Here at Breadline Africa I am always called out to communities who have an urgent need for proper infrastructure.  Their desperate plea is to have better and more spacious facilities for their children.  They are anxious to have better classrooms than just a little shack which is extremely hazardous to fire.  They need proper and more hygienic toilets.  Many of the children in the educare centres are still exposed to the bucket system. The lack of proper ablution facilities is a big worry as it is extremely unhygienic and one of the major causes of diarrhoea .  Many of the educare centers also do not have a proper kitchen.  The cooks have to cook in one of the classrooms with the big gas stoves on the floor and the washing bucket on the side of a table.  The kids then have to pile into a corner to make space.

Recently, we were approached by the Principal of the  Zukolwethu Educare Centre in an informal settlement in Monwabisi, Khayelitsha.

She was at her wits end as parents kept bringing their children for enrolment at her school but her facilities were  not at all suitable. She did not have a proper classroom or a safe kitchen.  However with the help of our Irish Advisory Committee who raised funds for this project, we were able to have the most amazing make-over happening in this community.

We renovated two second hand shipping containers into a beautiful classroom and a safe kitchen for this Educare Centre.

Before The Zukolwethu Educare Centre, Monwabisi.

After The Zukolwethu Educare Centre, Monwabisi, Khayelitsha

A big thank you comes your way from all the children and teachers at Zukolwetho Educare.

The Principal, the teachers and the community living in this informal settlement could not believe it when these two containers arrived for delivery. It was extremely difficult to get the truck up the road to deliver the containers, but with much perseverance and the help of everyone the containers were successfully put into place.

The children as well as the teachers were extremely happy. They could not believe that these containers could make such a huge difference.   We are very proud of our achievement and grateful to our Irish Advisory Committee and their friends for helping us make this make-over happen.

Breadline Africa supporter in Tesco diet calendar!

A loyal Breadline Africa supporter from the UK is appearing in the Tesco Diets 2011 Calendar.

The charity calendar features 12 women who have been participating in the Tesco Diets scheme. Each of the “calendar girls” have a story to tell about how they changed their lives for the better while on their weight loss journey. They hope to inspire others to take action and make some changes for good.

ALL proceeds from this calendar are going to 14 charities, 12 of which have been personally chosen by the calendar girls. Amanda-Jane from Bristol lost an amazing 1 stone 3lbs and chose Breadline Africa as her charity.

For more information about this project and to purchase a calendar please visit www.tescodiets.com

My time in Cape Town

This is a guest post from Rupert Shanks who has been working with us for the last 6 weeks as a volunteer.

I first encountered Breadline Africa while working for NYK in London. NYK is a shipping and logistics group and we were supporting a BBC documentary called the Box. An NYK shipping container was painted in BBC colours, fitted with a GPS tracking device and followed around the world as it carried various products on its global journey. At the end of that journey the Box was donated to Breadline Africa where it was converted into a soup kitchen and set up by a school in Eerste Rivier, just outside Cape Town, where it would help feed 80 people a day.

Cape Town at night

Having decided to take some time away from corporate life in London, I approached Louise and Tim from Breadline Africa to see if there was any chance of working for the organisation in South Africa. I wanted to experience Africa and hopefully do some good while I was there. In what seemed like no time at all, I was touching down in Cape Town. The city is spectacular! All through my time here, I couldnt stop admiring the mountain as it looks down at us.

The people working for Breadline here in Cape Town made me feel very welcome. They have a great atmosphere in the office. Edna told me she was hoping for a Scottish Arnold Schwarzenegger, so I must have been a bit of a disappointment! I was soon learning more about what the charity does and some of the African problems they are trying to address. Tim presented the background to Breadline strategy planning with some shocking statistics. A major focus for Breadline is the children. There are approx 18 million children in South Africa (39% of the population) and 63% of them still live in poverty. Although child mortality has been declining in recent years, infant mortality (under 5 years old) has actually been increasing. I was pretty surprised to hear this, as my perception was that South Africa had been developing economically in recent years and these kind of problems should be declining. Although the South African Gross National Income has been rising , there is still significant inequality.

Pre School container at Delft

I have spent my time here with Breadline being able to learn more about the many different projects they support. Edna and the others have taken me out to visit them, many of which are in the townships around Cape Town. It was inspiring to meet the people who work in them, teaching kids, working in soup kitchens etc. The difference that Breadline’s support makes in these areas was really made clear to me. We went to one pre-school site in Delft, which is run by Patiswa. She was explaining how the parents of the kids can now go out and work while their kids are getting a great start to their education. This knock-on effect can really help develop the area in a sustainable way.

Kids at school in Delft

Learning about the value of the shipping containers has also been fascinating. Especially as I was previously working for a shipping company! These big boxes can be put to amazing use after a life travelling the ocean waves carrying Playstations, whisky or whatever the world is trading. I met Roland who runs the container conversion yard. He is very passionate about what he does and this shines through in his work. The finished containers make excellent facilities such as kitchens or bathrooms with all the plumbing included.

One of the highlights for me was the seaside parties. Every year, Breadline organises a series of seaside parties where they take local kids from some of the poorest areas for a fun day out at the seaside. Incredibly, many of these kids have never been to the beach. This year, thanks to the donors, Breadline could take 1200 kids. I went along for a day and was bowled over by the sheer joy on the kids faces. Ive never seen so much running around and whooping! Santa even turned up at the end of the day, although I had just nipped outside so unfortunately missed him. I was told his ‘Ho, Ho, Ho’ was just fantastic, although his trainers were a bit grubby.

Splashing around

My time here is now drawing to a close and I am heading back to the bleak winter in the UK. I’d like to say a huge thanks to the people at Breadline Africa who have been so kind during my stay here. I have a lot of admiration for what they do. They are tackling some of the key problems in the area and are making a real difference.

Thank you Albert Carpets from Cape Town

Thank you for responding so generously to our recent interview with Cape Talk.

It is kind and compassionate people like you that inspire us to do so much more for those less fortunate than ourselves.  Two container classrooms in Khayelitsha have been beautifully fitted out with brand new carpets.  This makeover came just in time for the children’s graduation celebration. Thank you for reaching out to us, you have done us proud!

We will be updating you with more news about the other classroom makeovers  which will benefit from Albert Carpets magnificent gift.

One of the 2x6m containers before

One of the generous rolls of carpets that we received

The new look classrooms with the beautifully fitted carpet

OUR MAGICAL MOBILE CLASSROOMS BRING SKILLS TO UNEMPLOYED YOUTH

We recently decided that we needed to work more energetically in the field of skills development to make a contribution to the unacceptably high levels of unemployment we face here in Africa – which is a major cause of keeping people in impoverished conditions. We have the extraordinary situation of both a skills shortage and high unemployment. It’s time for us to get the unemployed properly skilled in something that can earn them a living.

With this in mind Breadline Africa has launched a new offensive against unemployment in Africa called Cans4Skills.

Congratulations to our Graduates who has completed a basic bricklayers course

Congratulations to our Graduates who has completed a basic Plumbers course

The difference our shipping containers can make in poverty stricken areas

Patiswa, her teachers and the children extend a big thank you to our board of Trustees and their friends for making this little school possible here on the tip of Africa.

Patiswa Bangani, who lives in Delft on the Cape Flats, has become the ‘mother’ in her community. She started collecting the children that were walking in the street and invited them into her little wooden structured house.  Many of the parents were out looking for work and the children had to look after one another.  Patiswa started to look after the children and cook a nutritious meal for them. But then more children started coming as the little ones brought their sisters, brothers and friends who were at home and needed this basic care as well.  The children ranged in age from two to six years old and soon there were more than eighty children at one time.

Patiswa’s little house was getting too small for all the children. She heard about Breadline Africa who assists communities in need with refurbished containers.  We met with Patiswa and all the children in her care.  She needed extra space urgently and with the help of our Board of Trustees and their friends they raised enough funds to help build a little container school for the children of Delft.

Patiswa is the Principal of this beautiful little container school, called Ulwazi (which mean “knowledge” ) Educate Centre.  She is very proud that she could help the little children in her care with such lovely classrooms and a beautiful ablution block.  One of her greatest concerns is the issue of health and hygiene but with proper toilets and sanitation she is now able to teach the little ones proper hygiene care.

The toilet that is currently being used by the children

One of the three containers that have been converted into a proper toilet for the children.

The Principal, Patiswa Bangani outside her educare centre. This container will be used as a classroom.

Breadline Africa is a hub of International activity

We have had the pleasure of welcoming Australians, Americans, the British and even Dutch visitors so far this year.

What  a day of sheer excitement when Lisa and James Holland brought their two sons Mathew and Ben, as well as their Aunt Day to meet us at the Breadline Africa office.  This trip is a dream come true for their Aunt Day who has always wanted to visit South Africa. And here they are!

From our Breadline Africa office they were taken on a tour to Khayelitsha (a township outside of Cape Town). We stopped off at the Khayelitsha shopping mall,  where they bought fruit and food for the children of the Founder Educare Centre we were visiting.  Lisa and her family enjoyed playing with the children as well as helping the teachers serve the children their lunch.

It was important for them to see the wonderful work that Breadline Africa does before they went on to see the beautiful scenic areas  and tourist places of South Africa.

Thank you for having included us on your itinerary Lisa and for bringing special joy to kids here in Africa.

Mathew Holland and his mom Lisa cutting some fruit for the children

The joys our visitors brings when playing with the children

Ben and Mathew Holland with their aunt Day serving a meal at the Educare Centre