Miss Vicky's Children's Education Fund: May 2010

Mission Statement

The mission of Miss Vicky's Children's Education Fund is to finance the airfare from NYC to Cape Town, South Africa for at least one American teacher to donate his/her tutoring services each summer for several weeks to the children and mothers in Khayelitsha Township District "C" and to provide classroom instruction in the local public school to facilitate a learning environment focused on the improvement of overall literacy. Any additional funds raised will be used to establish a dedicated school library for "C" District. Eventually the hope is to provide each child with a school back pack filled with school supplies and their own reading book during the Holidays.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Fundraising Efforts

“Change for Children” at Maureen M. Welch Elementary School submitted by Tanya Anderson

Students and staff at Welch Elementary School recently held a book drive to collect gently used books for children in South Africa. Students also gave any loose change they had to help ship the books to South Africa. More than several hundred books were brought in by students/staff which will be donated to Miss Vicky’s Children’s Education Fund, a local organization created to help children in South Africa. The mission of this organization is to build a library for the children in Khayelitsha Township (outside of Cape Town), South Africa and send a teacher each summer to educate the children.

MMW’s student council members helped organize the book drive and change collection after learning more about the struggles children face in South Africa. Students were really excited to support the cause and did a fabulous job contributing in order to create change for children around the world!

Vusamanzi Primary School

Vuzamanzi Primary is in Site C in the Khayelitsha informal settlement. First established in 1985, the school has served the community as a community hall for meetings and a hiding place from police raids at the height of the apartheid era as well as a place to educate the youth. Over 75% of the parent community of Vuzamanzi Primary are unemployed and illiterate, many eeking out a living in the informal sector where they sell fruit and sweets at the taxi rank and station. Naturally, there is a high percentage of non-fee payment by these parents who simply cannot afford school fees and the school has now been identified as a pilot school for the no payment of school fees in the Western Province.