A vital R1,5 million injection towards the purchase of additional land has resolved overcrowding,
infrastructure compliance requirements and space issues at a Howick-based children’s care centre,
thanks to the generosity of the South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT)
The Angel’s Care Centre has operated in the Midlands town for some 23 years, serving extremely
impoverished communities in the Umgeni Municipality area with feeding schemes, education
programs and health and well-being support, as well as youth development programs.
However, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic saw demand for its charitable services radically
increase and the numbers of vulnerable children soar as the impact of the hard lockdowns and
subsequent economic devastation gripped the area, leaving the centre desperately short of
adequate buildings and space.
Commenting on its land purchase donation, SAMCT representative, Mr Gaff Osman, said: “The
health crisis and its impact ramped up both the center’s weekly feeding scheme needs and
participation in its Early Childhood Development program, resulting in overcrowding and a woeful
shortage of space. However, the cost of the necessary additional land on which to build develop
infrastructure was way beyond the financial means of the Angel’s Care Centre.”
“Urgent action was required to overcome the impasse and upon hearing of the center’s issue, the
SAMCT was pleased to step in, sponsoring the cost of the land, so as to give effect to the center’s
planned infrastructure expansion.”
The land purchase donation immediately paved the way for the expanded completion and
repurposing of the center’s new Early Childhood Development campus, enabling it to beter
undertake its daily operations and deliver high quality education. In addition, the development was
to benefit the organization’s on-site Crisis Centre, freeing space for the expansion of its own
services, thus satisfying a core element of the Angel’s Care Centre’s vision and mission; the delivery
of a holistic development offering to the local communities it serves.
Mr Osman added: “Unblocking the center’s expansion initiatives, through the land purchase, further
enabled it to meet new Early Childhood Development compliance requirements, which necessitated
changes to its existing centre and which had been included in the expansion plans, thus ensuring
adherence to all minimum standards.”
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 for the improvement of the lives of the
vulnerable, deprived and disadvantaged. It has been singularly 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.
The organization’s Early Childhood Development Centre is the direct feeder of Grade R learners to
Grade One classes at Thembelihle Primary School, also located in Howick, and the SAMCT donation
is regarded as contributing immensely towards the further development of the educational process.
Mr Osman stressed: “The Angel’s Care Centre is an extremely well run organization, doing excellent
work in the Howick area. Their Thembelihle School is a beacon of excellence and the centre aims to
replicate this with its re-developed Early Childhood Development Centre. Our land purchase
donation was, therefore, a critical component of the overall project.”
“We are, accordingly, very pleased to have been able to play pivotal role in ensuring the ability of
the Angel’s Care Centre to continue delivering high-impact programs of excellence for children who
are in desperate need of a quality education and atendant holistic development programs designed
to empower them to achieve a beter quality of life.”
For more information about the SAMCT or it’s Angel’s Care Centre land donation, please contact:
Rasheeda Motala
Social Responsibility Officer
Tel: 084 506 2280
Email: samct@samct.co.za