New facility - The Ilze Halliday Foundation

New facility - The Ilze Halliday Foundation

This particular facility is located in a part of Eersterust, East of the Pretoria CBD. The community is poor and few of the adults have jobs. This project (2nd Chanz) is aimed at social upliftment, not only with the youngsters, but also the adults within the community.

First off, the younger generation is taken care of....there is no formal play area for the kids, but the streets are relatively safe and the children run around and play games there. The facility management often deal with the children right there on the street...educating them, reading to them, showing them that life is not so bleak as they often think it is. The project provides a safe haven for the children; they understand that their wellbeing is taken care of, that they are indeed special people, worthy of other's attention and love. 

The teenagers also receive guidance and after-school assistance. The kids all have a library card and are encouraged to use that resource to do research, especially since the Internet is a scarce commodity in this community...they simply can't afford it. Many of the schoolchildren present with learning problems, but this has been addressed with the assistance of a company who presently funds them to receive extra classes in languages and mathematics. Some of the young girls become pregnant, and often lose heart when they have to face the responsibilities that go with parenthood. Many of them are convinced that their lives are over and that there is nothing else to live for...2nd Chanz has changed all that. A few months ago they had a seminar with some of the young girls and had them hold a fundraiser in the form of a 'hair-a-thon'....the girls were encouraged to sell tickets (find prospective clients to use their hairdressing skills on) and the event was held right there in the street in front of the office. Some of the girls proved very skillful and went on to be accepted into hairdresser's college. The operations manager of 2nd Chanz, Byron, helped them with the enrollment and the college now foots nearly 80% of the study fees as means of assisting these girls to become qualified hairdressers.

It is not only the young people that benefit from 2nd Chanz....the older generation also finds their efforts extremely valuable. As mentioned, many of the adults are without work...which is, unfortunately, something of an everyday occurrence in South Africa...too many people, too few jobs. Many of these people are skilled in some way or another and then 2nd Chanz helps them to get listed on the dept of Labour's lists of available employees. Some of them have no skills and 2nd Chanz hopes to improve that by teaching them new ways to earn a living and take care of their families.

Another project that impressed me is the way the management goes about doing their business with families....they want to help people first and foremost to be fed and clothed...the basics and then they start taking care of employment issues, schooling and eventually emotional and relationship problems. It is heartwarming to see the passion of these people...to see how they have the vision to see that wellness and overall health (physically, emotionally and socially) begins with self and then within the homes, the families. If the family is strong and healthy, the entire community and hopefully, eventually, the whole world will be whole.

The organization is doing so much in this community and with so much hope, faith and vision....I can only spell success for their future and hope that somewhere, somehow, I can be involved in helping them make a difference.