God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Working in the townships of Cape Town provides for many bigger and smaller problems as those know, who dedicate money, time and work to uplift communities in our days.

One of the most annoying problems is the mere fact, that very often those targeted by the interventions and developments expect “free” services and hand-outs. It has become a culture difficult to break and to make it clear, that nothing is falling from heaven and money is not growing on trees – not even in Europe or the USA.

This hand-out-for-free culture is partly the fault of NGO’s and development organisations, pouring money into projects without reflecting on consequences. It creates dependency and if done outside a real emergency situation it disrespects the dignity of the receiving person. And to be clear: it this not only about money, it can also be about participation of any kind: important for development is that both parties are involved in an active role which gives respect to both: persons and the efforts made towards a common goal.

HOPE Cape Town will start in October an Entrepreneurial Skills Development programme which is divided in 7 toolkits. Participants can choose which soft skills they wish to learn. The programme was written after conducting an assessment of the situation of a typical township youngster. Even when finishing matric, often there is a gap between what a college would require to be a successful student and what the learner brings to the table with his matric. The programme provided by HOPE Cape Town bridges this gap by providing missing components of what is needed to either start an own small business or to continue studying at a college.

Having decided to not give freebies, the cost of a 3 months course is 150 Rand. And obviously the battle starts bringing in the culture of contributing towards a service and to acknowledge that nothing is for free – even a freebie is paid by somebody.

To ease the change of mindset, HOPE Cape Town is busy to establish a sort of bursary which can contribute towards whatever the prospective student can pay him- or herself. One often has to start slow to establish a culture, which on the long term run also changes the thinking and appreciation of people.

If you want to know more about the bursary scheme, please contact the author – if you are willing to help and sponsor one student with the 150 Rand – please use the following accounts depending on if you are in South Africa or Germany. HOPE Cape Town issues tax-deductible receipt for the respective country – please feel free to contact the organisation in this regard via info@hopecapetown.org :

South Africa:

Account Name: HOPE Cape Town Trust
Bank: Standard Bank of South Africa Limited
Account Number: 07 027-452-5
Branch Code: 020909
SWIFT-Code: SBZAZAJJ
Branch Name: Thibault Square
Remark: Bursary

Germany:

Kontoname: HOPE Kapstadt Stiftung
IBAN: DE15 3702 0500 0008 2695 00
BIC: BFSWDE33XXX
Kennwort: Bursary Trust

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, SA-German Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Society and living environment, The Nex - Indawo Yethu, Uncategorized, vocational training, Africa, cape town, change, changing culture, Entrepreneurship, hand-outs, job creation, south africa, The Nex, training