With so many of us at home cooking more meals than usual and eating in, do support StreetSmart through ‘Dine in. Do Good!’

We are asking our friends of StreetSmart, to donate the equivalent of R5 a day (that’s a quarter of the cost of your regular cappuccino!) for 30 days - a total of R150. Of course if you can afford more, we will be so grateful. These funds will enable us to fund our beneficiary social workers and educational programmes for the children, at the end of the year.

You may rest assured that every cent raised in this way will go to our beneficiaries and will not be used for any StreetSmart operational expenses.

"Sadly the need of the children our beneficiaries look after will not dissipate, so please #EatOutHelpOut and #DineInDoGood. Restaurants are opening up one by one so please make sure you support those who support StreetSmart South Africa - Nils Heckscher, hospitality consultant and StreetSmart Board member.

To donate: please make your payment to the StreetSmart SA bank account at Nedbank Foreshore Branch Number 108 309, Account Number: 108 33444 39; Swift code: Ned SZA JJ, with DIDG and your cell phone number as your reference.

Happiness is…another good news story!

Learn to Live received funding from StreetSmart Cape Town, towards the hospitality workshop training instructor salary. Enjoy reading about Sonia’s goal…

Sonia is 14 years old and a year-1 learner at the Learn to Live School. Her goal is to become a professional singer, since she is blessed with an exceptional voice. She is quite shy, but when she gets up in front of an audience, she sings with confidence and loves the peace and happiness this brings her. She lives in Hanover Park and says that it’s not always safe there as there is a lot of gangsterism and drugs around. 

She says: “My family is poor, and my mom doesn’t have work, my father works on and off.” Sometimes she goes to bed without food. There are times when they do not have electricity and it is dark and cold. Sonia sometimes gets scared and sad when her father consumes alcohol and starts arguing with her mom.

Yet she comes to school with a smile on her face and hides her anger, sadness and helplessness from her peers.  “I don’t know what I would do without the school, and Ms Shereen, my teacher. When I feel like giving up and leaving the school, she motivates me to pick myself up and to carry on. The teachers at the school make the impossible, seem possible.” Sonia loves hospitality and is now trying out her skills to the delight of her mom. Through her singing she makes people happy. “I am grateful for this school - for giving me food, education and travelling money to complete my schooling and to find a job one day so that I can help my family.”

NOTE: Whilst the story is true, the name/s have been changed in order to protect the child/ren.

 

It is so exciting to share the outcomes of what StreetSmart funding enables and achieves - bringing real, long-lasting social change in the lives of vulnerable children and their families. Sinethemba Youth Projects received funding from StreetSmart Knysna towards a social auxiliary worker salary.

Waydon Kiwido (10 years) grew up in a dysfunctional household with his single mother and two older brothers. His mother who is an alcoholic lost her job at the end of 2018 and as a result they went to bed most nights without food. During a one-on-one session Waydon said that most days the meal he had at school was the only meal for the day. It was during that time that his behaviour at school drastically changed for the worst. He would bully smaller boys, hitting them viciously in the school ablution block and swearing at the teachers. He would bunk and disrupt classes of mostly female teachers and became the contender for the most rude and unwanted child at school in no time. Parents of the children being bullied by him requested the school to take a stand and remove him from the school. The school unsuccessfully tried to get his mother to come and talk to them. The Principal then decided to refer the case to the Department of Education’s local district office. They approached Sinethemba to enrol him in the Drop-in Centre programme for the time being. During that time, he had to be taken to the school to check in every 7th day to keep him on the school register.

For the whole 1st quarter (January – March) Waydon attended the Sinethemba life and social skills programme. His mother also started to participate in the parent programmes. He was reintegrated into the same school in April and impressed his critics at the school almost every day. “He is now even wearing a tie to school”, one of the male teachers said. He recently got three medals for participating in the cycle club in Knysna.

NOTE: Whilst the story is true, the name/s have been changed in order to protect the child/ren.

 

Our hearts go out to our Fundraising Partners unable to trade during these difficult times.

Until our partners are up and running again, you can help us to continue raising funds to maintain essential services for vulnerable children and their families by supporting our COVID-19 campaign.

Dine in. Do good!

We cannot do this without you.

Click Here to Donate: https://streetsmartsa.org.za/donate-to-streetsmart 

                                                                                                              

We are excited about the outcomes our funding enables and achieves, bringing long-lasting social change in the lives of vulnerable children and their families. 

Kids Haven received funding from StreetSmart Johannesburg towards the Bridging School programme facilitator and social worker salaries.  Here is one of their good news stories:

SAPS found Norman (a 12-year-old boy) roaming the streets and brought him to Kids Haven. His mother, an illegal Lesotho national, had died and the boy lived with his father, employed as a truck driver. 

Norman came to Kids Haven and was placed in the Bridging School in September 2017. In December 2017, he received an award at the Bridging School assembly for smartness, hard work and improved behaviour. 

Read more: Inspiring Hope in Johannesburg