Essential community outreach work in Pietermaritzburg and surrounds has been given a R1 million boost, with the recent donation of a 22-seater bus to the Grange-based SOS Children’s Villages charitable organisation by the South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT).
SOS Children’s Villages in South Africa is part of a global childcare movement and has been operational in South Africa since 1982. It reaches out to children and young people who have lost their parents’ care, providing alternative care and family-strengthening programmes at the grassroots level.
Commenting on its vehicle donation, SAMCT representative, Mr Gaff Osman, said: “The SOS Children’s Villages operation in Pietermaritzburg, home to 65 children and youth, faced a severe predicament, with its only vehicle becoming very old, costly to maintain and unsafe. This impacted negatively on its ability to transport those in its care to schools, extra classes and recreational activities. The vehicle was also essential for community outreach, supporting 215 children in the family strengthening programme in outlying informal settlements, delivering food parcels and facilitating long-distance family reunifications.”
“Reliable transport is absolutely vital for such an organisation and without it, their whole invaluable operation would be severely compromised. Accordingly, the SAMCT was keen to assist, providing an appropriate vehicle to ensure the facility’s children access to vital educational, developmental and well-being activities, so assisting in empowering them to reach their full potential in a safe and nurturing environment,” Mr Osman added.
The organisation’s programmes aim to prevent parent-child separation, focusing on families made vulnerable by poverty, unemployment, illness, social problems and to prevent dependent children from losing parental care. SOS Children’s Villages in South Africa has a national footprint, operating in eight provinces, with 10 programmes supporting almost 5 000 beneficiaries. Of this number, seven are SOS Children’s Villages, three are social centres, and four are cluster foster care homes.
“This partnership with the SAMCT continues to immensely benefit our Pietermaritzburg Children’s Village beyond the recent donation. Impactful commitments like these are based on the understanding that the needs of a child are vast and demand such partnerships. Resources that ensure safety are a fundamental need for all children and a valuable asset to have as a child-care organisation. The impact of this donation is immeasurable, it is a gift that continues to give year after year. We are grateful to the SAMCT team in their unwavering support of the Pietermaritzburg Children’s Village, your work empowers lives,” said SOS National Director, Nqabakazi Gina.
Mr Osman said: “We are pleased that in purchasing a new 22-seater bus, we have assisted in providing safe and reliable transport to help the children in SOS Children’s Villages fulfil their potential and to thrive.”
The SAMCT was created in 2008, the result of a partnership between Old Mutual Unit Trusts and Al Baraka Bank, for the creation, marketing and distribution of a suite of Shariah Funds. The organisation provides funding, services and other resources to improve the lives of the vulnerable,
deprived and disadvantaged. It has been successful in delivering sizeable assistance solutions throughout South Africa – irrespective of race or religion – and continues to work to support needy organisations in the fields of healthcare, social development, poverty alleviation and education.
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For more information about the SAMCT or its bus donation, please contact:
Rasheeda Motala
Social Responsibility Officer
Tel: 084 506 2280
Email: samct@samct.co.za
www.samct.co.za