Frequent interruptions to the municipal water supply to a special needs school in Chatsworth,
Durban, have severely disrupted the consistency of education, with learners suffering the acute loss
of concentration by being unable to take their medication and raising hygiene and health risks for the
facility’s 320 disadvantaged young charges.
The 39-year-old Damorosa Prevocational School caters to learners with special educational needs,
including mild to moderate disabilities, autism, and dyslexia. The school meets the holistic
development needs of children from a wide range of disadvantaged communities, inclusive of
Chatsworth, Mariannridge, Demat, Welbedacht, Umlazi, Pinetown, and Hammersdale.
The solution lay in drilling a borehole at the school to ensure the continuity of the water supply.
However, the cost proved well beyond the capability of this financially-challenged educational
institution and was destined to remain a pipe dream, until the South African Muslim Charitable Trust
(SAMCT) intervened with the offer of borehole sponsorship.
Commenting, SAMCT representative, Mr. Gaff Osman, said: “The need for continuous water supply
to any institution catering for several hundred people is self-evident, especially in terms of maters of
health. Ongoing water supply to a school is of paramount importance, particularly at an institution
like Damorosa Prevocational School where, because of their special needs, learners may become
anxious, require frequent access to drinking water, easily lose concentration and need water with
which to take medication during school hours.”
“With the Management Team under pressure to keep the school open through and in spite of such
frequent breaks in water supply, the sinking of a borehole was the obvious solution to alleviate both
learner and potential health-related issues. Learning of the school’s water problems, the SAMCT was
quick to react, providing the necessary R161 000 funding to drill and install a borehole for the
school.”
The installation has both relieved Government pressure on the school and assisted members of the
surrounding community affected by frequent water shortages. Water from the borehole is also used
to irrigate the school’s market garden, the produce of which is sold to the public to help raise school
funds
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
organization 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 organizations in the fields of healthcare, social development, poverty alleviation,
and education.
“Learners are not all the same academically, with many unable to cope with a mainstream academic
programme, which is why educational institutions such as Damorosa Prevocational School are
invaluable and so very necessary to provide learners to a curriculum which ensures their academic
development and which allows them to learn skills that will make them employable, as well as
becoming confident, independent and contributing members of the community.
“Special needs learners deserve the best possible education, and should not be further compromised
by something as basic as water supply. We, of the SAMCT, are therefore pleased to have been in a
position to assist with the borehole, freeing learners from the upsets and concerns associated with
water interruptions and easing the pressure faced by the Management Team,” Mr Osman said.