MEDIA RELEASE
Friday 19 July 2019
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The transport woes of a Malvern-based child and youth care centre are a thing of the past, the result of the provision of a new 16-seater vehicle.
The South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT) stepped into the breach when it became clear that the Malvern Child and Youth Care Centre’s two ageing vehicles were insufficient to transport all the young people in its care to and from the 17 different schools they attend every day.
Presenting the centre with the additional vehicle at a ceremony recently, Mr Faried Boltman, a representative of the SAMCT, said: “Vehicles are an exceptionally important part of the centre’s needs. Amazingly, it has long made do with just two vehicles, making as many of five trips each, every day, in rush-hour traffic to deliver all those in its care to their schools ahead of lessons each weekday morning. The same process is then followed every afternoon, collecting the learners and returning them to the Malvern Child and Youth Care Centre. This takes its toll on not only the vehicles at its disposal, but also the centre’s personnel.”
He said it was clear that transport was a service the centre simply could not afford to be without, given the number of schools its learners attend.
“Another vehicle was, therefore, a critical need, but one which was outside the financial capability of the centre,” Mr Boltman added.
The SAMCT applauded the ‘sterling work’ undertaken by organisations, such as the Malvern Child and Youth Care Centre, in providing a safe and loving home to society’s forgotten youth – those removed from their parents by the Children’s Court, those who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS and those who have known nothing but poverty and hunger.
“The Malvern Child and Youth Care Centre is home to 120 young people and its staff work tirelessly to ensure as normal an upbringing as is humanly possible for those in its care, inclusive of making sure each receives a fit and proper education. This is a mammoth task and one which comes with a massive financial burden. Whilst daily running costs can be accommodated via grants and fund- raising, it is the unexpected and unplanned capital expenses which bring with them added pressures and stresses,” Mr Boltman said.
It is in such instances that the SAMCT looks to step into the breach, providing the finance necessary to keep an organisation’s 
wheels turning.
“The Malvern Child and Youth Care Centre is greatly deserving of our assistance to quite literally keep the wheels turning. Every day those in its care are dispatched to no fewer than 17 different schools, given that education plays a big role in ensuring these youngsters a future in which they will be able to support themselves and contribute towards the socio-economic development of the country,” he added.
Mr Boltman said: “The SAMCT exists to make a difference and in this instance we provided a helping hand to an organisation whose personnel are so obviously committed to the livelihoods of those young people in its care, by supplying an additional 16-seater vehicle, valued at some R400 000, to assist with easing the daily school-runs, taking the youngsters on much-deserved outings and dealing efficiently with medical emergencies, when the need arises.
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. This partnership ensures that the SAMCT is the beneficiary of this Shariah suite of funds in order to provide funding, services and other resources for the improvement of the lives of the vulnerable, deprived and disadvantaged. The organisation 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 health, social development, poverty alleviation and education.
“Our vehicle donation today is an example of the concern we have for non-profit organisations whose good works will come to nought, if such capital expenditure needs cannot be met. I hope that our humble contribution will make a telling difference to all those at the Malvern Child and Youth Care Centre, from Management and staff to the young people in their care. Your work with children and youth whose lives have been so cruelly affected is greatly appreciated and, for our part, the SAMCT is very pleased to assist in keeping the centre’s wheels turning,” he concluded.
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For more information about SAMCT or its Malvern Child and Youth Care Centre donation, please contact:
Rasheeda Motala
Social Responsibility Officer
Mobile: 084 506 2280
Email: samct@samct.co.za