A non-profit organisation, based in Sea Vista, St Francis Bay, which was established by seven mothers, aims to keep young people away from negative elements in their community by providing them with a variety of programmes which encourages them to strive for their goals.
According to Shaida Abdol, secretary of the NPO, Sibanye, the organisation was established in 2018, to combat social ills within the area.
“The Sea Vista community is being ruined by substance abuse, crime and teenage pregnancies. As caring mothers, we decided to intervene with a direct-action initiative, aimed at children and young adults,” said Abdol.
The organisation, which has seven members and seven volunteers, currently offered three different programmes at the Sea Vista Community Hall, including a girls and boys’ empowerment group to educate young people aged between 12 and 19, on the dangers of drug and alcohol usage and crime.
In addition, they provided at least 24 girls in the empowerment group with sanitary towels and 20 boys with toiletries each month. However, Abdol said they currently did not have much in stock and would need donations from the St Francis Bay community to ensure that each child had toiletries for the coming months.
“We have educational talks and keep the kids busy with various activities so that they do not wander around in the streets and get involved in bad activities,” said Abdol.
To further help young people, the organisation established a reading group to help children aged between five and 14 to read, develop language skills and build confidence.
Abdol said after joining their reading group, many of the children were able to improve their listening skills and had been doing much better at school, since they were able to easily read and understand their homework.
In addition to the empowerment group and the reading club, the organisation also provided beading and sewing workshops to teach young adults a skill to help them generate an income.
Abdol said after attending their programmes, the children learnt the difference between right and wrong and they were able to make good decisions because they understood that knowledge was power.
“We have equipped the children in our programme with the necessary skills to strive for a better future. We want them to be able to go to university and to better themselves.
“We hope that each child will work hard and reach their full potential,” said Abdol.
In the future, the organisation hopes to establish a youth centre, manned by counsellors sympathetic to drug and alcohol abuse problems, and to help with issues relating to sex education, child abuse and career counselling.
“We want a happy, safe and loving environment for our children. We also want a drug, alcohol and crime free community,” said Abdol.
For more information contact Shaida Abdol on 073 544 4411 or Alice Kaunda on 079 154 7070.
