Madiba Day inspires wine estate to give youngsters a new lease on life
"Waterkloof donated school shoes and socks to 125 Grade 1 learners and we also gave soup, sweets and drinks to all the scholars on the day. Thanks to fellow Capetonians who also followed Madiba's example by reaching out to fellow human beings to build a better and caring society, we have managed to collect loads of non-perishable food and clothing items over the past few weeks which we also handed out to the school," says Waterkloof sales and marketing manager, Claudia Young-Kelly.
These scholars live in poor conditions in the Sir Lowry's Pass Village. The lack of education coupled with HIV/Aids, drugs and alcohol abuse have contributed to a 40% unemployment rate with most of the inhabitants barely surviving, having to live without proper sanitation, electricity and water.
"The youngsters are the future leaders of South Africa and we cannot instil good values through education if they do not even have the basics like clothes to wear and food to eat. We know that the parents of these children are facing financial difficulty and would therefore like to assist wherever we can to improve the unfortunate social circumstances in a very poor community that has been largely forgotten," she adds.
For more information on the Sir Lowry's Pass Community Empowerment Project, go to www.empowerment-project.org.