MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
10 June 2019
Rapidly deteriorating bathroom facilities at a Glenwood, Durban, home for children have been renovated, restoring the dignity of its teen users, thanks to a R240 000 upgrade injection provided by the South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT).
The Berea-based St Martin’s Diocesan Home for Children has afforded children a place of safety, in one guise or another, since 1897 and today provides vital residential care for young boys and girls orphaned, abandoned or abused. However, as is a common reality across South Africa, non-profit organisations, such as St Martin’s, often lack the financial resources to keep abreast of infrastructural maintenance and development needs.
Responding to the home’s recent appeal for assistance, the SAMCT was quick to step into the breach.
Speaking at a recent hand-over of the renovated girls bathroom facilities, together with the presentation of new washing and drying machines, valued at an additional R20 000, Mr Gaff Osman a representative of the SAMCT, said: “These youngsters have been dealt a harsh blow to their upbringing and are so very deserving of the best facilities possible in which to grow towards their maturity and ultimate independence. It is tragic that all to often society remains unaware of – or worse – forgets about these vulnerable young people and those who commit themselves to giving them the care, love and attention they crave and most certainly merit.”
The frequent result is a serious shortage of funding for homes, such as St Martin’s Diocesan Home for Children, with such under-resourcing causing the decay of facilities, in spite of the best efforts of staff.
“The dignity of these young and at-risk people is often compromised and can have a detrimental effect on their development, undoing all the tirelessly good work their carers undertake,” Mr Gaff Osman added.
He said that St Martin’s ‘does exceptional work’ with the more than 70 young people in its care. “Its staff members are incredibly committed to correcting the past wrongs done to these children and to developing them into skilled adults, capable of starting life on a sound foundation. However, the sad reality is that the home simply does not have the funds to keep abreast of infrastructural needs which, by definition, are hugely expensive.”
“The SAMCT was delighted to respond to St Martins’ appeal for the financial assistance necessary to renovate the seriously decrepit state of the girls bathroom facilities; facilities which were rapidly degenerating into an unhygienic state, with crumbling floors and walls suffering from damp and the threat of mildew. Nobody – and especially girls going through the most vulnerable part of their teenage years – should have to contend with such indignities.”
The organisation also facilitated the removal of an obsolete, severely rusted and potentially dangerous extractor, while making additional funding available to the home for the purchase of an additional washing machine and a new and more appropriate drying machine, replacing the only and over-worked, domestic appliance previously in place.
“It is hoped that these additions will make the domestic life of this home just a little easier for all concerned,” said Mr Gaff Osman.
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.
Praising the staff’s dedication to nurturing and empowering the boys and girls in their care, Mr Gaff Osman said: “You do amazing work under the most trying of circumstances. I trust that our financial contribution here will make a huge difference to St Martin’s Diocesan Home for Children and, especially, the girls for whom these new bathroom facilities have been developed, as well as the home’s staff.
ends
For more information about SAMCT or it’s Durban School for the Hearing Impaired donation, please contact:
Rasheeda Motala
Social Responsibility Coordinator-SAMCT
Mobile: +27 (0)84 506 2280