Educational Development for the Osizweni Community Centre in Ennerdale, South Africa

Salaam, peace be upon you all, 

On behalf of Islamic Relief, a group of us volunteers from across Canada are part taking in this project to fundraise for the Osizweni Community Center which is located in one of the poorest and most marginalized neighbourhoods in Johannesburg South Africa – Ennerdale.

 The community centre provides much-needed education and support to orphans and other vulnerable children who otherwise are not able to attend school due to extreme poverty, limited documentation, disabilities, distance to school and poor health status. 

The community centre also runs a very successful community garden which we are looking to continue its success through our fundraising. The community garden increases access to food and generate an income for the centre. The beneficiaries who have come to the centre, learned how to grow different nutritious foods and then started gardens of their own. The mothers and guardians are happy and excited to be able to provide food for their children. The food produced are used for school lunches and other of the community meals as well as the excess sold in the neighbourhood to generate an income for the community centre.

Most of the families who come to the centre are female headed households which means they already have a very limited ability to access variety of services, therefore the community centre caters to their children but also to the mothers and guardians of orphans through variety of services in the health, nutrition and development. 

This project will specifically focus on the education component of the centre by collecting funds to enhance the centre's learning environment and expand the school beyond Grade 4. The funds will also go towards refurbishing the existing library and to add more books and supplies. The rest of the funding will go towards the day to day running of the centre such as providing salaries for the teachers and improving supplies such as from simply laminating worksheets so they can be used over and over again.

 From July 21 to August 4, I will be travelling to South Africa as a volunteer with Islamic Relief Canada with other volunteers from across Canada to work directly with the children at the community centre and see our donations being put to action. We will work directly to fill much-needed gaps in teacher support by assisting the teachers and facilitating activities for the children that foster learning and mentorship. Many of the children do not have a guardian in which to ask for help with homework therefore the centre runs an after-school homework help program to serve a way to ensure the kids receive all the help they need to succeed at school, which we will also volunteer our time to help run this program. 

In no way will our two weeks volunteering there make a last impact but it does help to raise funds for the project to make it sustainable in the long term and raise awareness for the kind of work Islamic Relief does in South Africa.

One of the reasons I am part taking on this project is "not to go serve others but to learn how to serve" as one of a recent blog I read puts it. Its little change in words but it can have great change in perspective.

Here is a video of the community few years back to give a greater perspective of what the community centre and Islamic Relief provides: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPIYSfBcjDQ

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and I really hope that you part take on this project as well with your donations so that the community centre is kept running and sustainable for many years and for countless individuals to benefit from it.