Good Morning Angels: CEO’s sleeping outside to benefit SA’s youth through Education

GOOD MORNING ANGELS 27 JULY 2016 (CEO SLEEP-OUT)

CEO’s Sleeping outside to benefit South Africa’s Youth through Education

BACKGROUND:  You’ve been hearing about it for many months and finally tomorrow is the big day: more than 200 CEO’s will be sleeping on the Nelson Mandela bridge in Braamfontein, for one night. They are leaving their normal comforts behind, but more importantly, they are pledging support and contributing valuable rands towards education. The funds raised during the CEO Sleep-out, will be channeled to several beneficiaries, with three pre-selected organisation that will receive the bulk of the funds.

"The CEO Sleep-out Trust recognises education as a vital step on the road to eradicating homelessness. With that in mind, this year’s appointed beneficiaries – the ASHA Trust, Columba Leadership and the Steve Biko Foundation – were carefully selected because of their determined, gallant efforts to educate our children and youth. The education offered by the beneficiaries is not just in short-term knowledge that will help children pass their exams today, but in life skills that will benefit them long-term, and equip them with the skills to help others and their communities. By also assisting to up skill educators, who will teach generation after generation, the beneficiaries’ work is far-reaching, building towards a better future for everyone”.

Today, we introduce you to people who have benefited from the work done by these three charities: 

THE ASHA TRUST:

Beneficiary: Emily Mahlobo

Emily runs the Owhetu Day Care facility in Alexandra. Her day care looks after 94 children from 6 months to 6-year olds.

She started in 2009, when looking after her own grandchild. Emily realised that many other parents do not have grannies who can look after their children while they are working - or in some cases - going to school. Emily put out a pamphlet offering her services and the next day had six new faces to look after. She however had no training, other than she learnt as a mother herself - until the ASHA Trust - took her under their wing. 

Statistics indicate that millions of South African children between 0 and 4 years old have no access to quality, early childhood care and education facilities. That’s why the ASHA Trust, a not-for-profit organisation, provides Early Childhood Development support programmes for under-skilled practitioners and owners of home-based crèches in disadvantaged communities. Their goal? To up skill the crèche owners and educators to be able to provide stimulating, educational environments and meet the nutritional needs of the children in their care. The trust’s work enables the crèches to comply with the standards prescribed by the Department of Social Development, to help the owners register their ECD centers and access social development subsidies.

More than three million children in vulnerable communities have no access to early childhood development programmes. This puts them at enormous risk and the likelihood of early school drop-out. The cycle of poverty is perpetuated. By focusing on the importance of education in breaking this cycle, The 2016 Sun International CEO SleepOutTM is addressing homelessness at its very core,” says Deirdre Caulwell, Director ASHA Trust.

For more on ASHA go to: www.ashatrust.com

HOW FAR A GENEROUS PLEDGE GOES AT THE ASHA TRUST:

R 50: Provides a book for a child.

R 100: Provides educational toys for a group of children.

R 200: Provides a hot breakfast and lunch at school for one child for a month.

R 350: Provides crèche fees for a month for one child.

R 500: Provides training on “Using toys in the classroom’” for one care-giver.

R 1 000: Provides outdoor play equipment for one pre-school.

R 5 000+: Offers a full skills development training course for an unqualified pre-school care-givers

COLUMBA LEADERSHIP ACADEMY:

Beneficiary: 19-year old Rosey Seima

Rosey graduated from Realogile High School in Alexandra, Johannesburg.  She is a young, passionate, determined and hardworking leader who involves herself in numerous programmes and projects. These projects deal with social issues, including being a chairperson for MIC, (Making Incredible Change) an initiative formed by US students who aim to change her community's high schools for the better. The initiative launched numerous projects, including one dealing with teenage pregnancy and "GET HIGH ON EDUCATION AND NOT ON DRUGS AND ALCOHOL.” Rosy believes that the youth have the power to not only make a difference in their own lives, but in the lives of their fellow citizens. She was a speaker at the TEDX event held in 2014.

Columba Leadership transforms individuals and communities from the inside out, using the ethical values of responsible leadership. They train 15 leaders in a school each year, and train 150 others through social action. After five years, values-based leadership becomes entrenched in the culture of the school with sustained impact, enabling Columba to exit and move to new schools. They work closely with the Department of Education, principals, teachers, local community members and corporate partners in the most under-served areas across South Africa, where they unleash the potential of young people to be agents of positive social change. The core leadership values are awareness, focus, creativity, integrity, perseverance, and service.

For more on Columba go to: www.columba.org.za

HOW FAR A GENEROUS PLEDGE GOES AT COLUMBA LEADERSHIP:

R1: Delivers R3 of social value

R2 000: Helps a young person become 50% more employable than his/her peers.

R6 000 a year (for 5 years): Trains a teacher in a school to sustain Columba’s impact.

R20 000: Columba will match with another R 20 000, which will fund development of one employable young person a year in perpetuity.

R25 000: pays for one young person to go through a 450-hour leadership programme over two years

R2 million: Columba will raise a further R 8 million to build a training facility where they will train 600 future leaders a year.

THE STEVE BIKO FOUNDATION: 

Beneficiary: 19 year old Azi Simanga

Anti-Apartheid activist and leader of the Black Consciousness Movement, Steve Biko, lived and died for the values of equality, freedom, respect, diversity and integrity. It is around these values that The Steve Biko Foundation was formed. Inspired by the legacy of Bantu Stephen Biko, the foundation aims to restore people to their true humanity. It hopes to strengthen democracy by championing dialogue, scholarships and programmes on the relationship between identity, agency, citizenship and social action. 

For more on The Steve Biko Foundation, visit: www.sbf.org.za

HOW FAR A GENEROUS PLEDGE GOES AT THE STEVE BIKO FOUNDATION:

R10: Allows a child to tour the Steve Biko Museum, which is related to the school curriculum

R15: Allows a school child to attend a Legacy Lecture on South African history

R80: Pays for four business skills development workshops

R1 500: Pays for one person to participate in week-long entrepreneurship course

R36 000: Puts a young person through a year-long arts and culture training program