Making a difference for our youth & community
In August 2005, The Art of Living Foundation and it's sister organization The International Association for Human Values (IAHV) established a partnership with Forte High School in Dobsonville, Soweto, Johannesburg. The partnership started with a medical camp and has progressed rapidly.
There are an alarmingly, large number of children at the school, who are from child-headed families or who are heading their families and siblings. Click here for more information on child headed & indigent families
The Youth Village project’s focus is to assist and empower these youth in a sustainable way. Providing the tools and practical experience to manage their lives successfully, both at home and in school.
The Youth Village project, headed by Art of Living teacher, Aneshree Naidoo, does the above in the following ways: (Information on activities are detailed in the newsletters below)
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Albert Dove:
YES! Course graduate & Feeding Scheme
beneficiary"Referring to myself, that if I had enough
food in my stomach:- I will not go out and seek a girlfriend or
boyfriend who is going to give me money to
buy some food, so that i can pay them back
with myself- I will not go out and steal from other
children or gamble at the streets"Albert grauated from high school
in December 2011 with 6 distinctionsMental, Emotional and Spiritual development: In April 2007, 80 learners participated in the first YES Course, held at the school. To date, over 140 youth from the school and neighboring schools have successfully completed the Youth Empowerment Seminar
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YES! Club: With great results, a YES! Club was set up, where youth in a constructive manner bring about positive changes to their schools and communities.
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Computer Centre: In January 2006, IAHV together with sponsors donated a fully equipped computer center, with 20 computers at the school – each graduate now leaves the school with basic computer skills.
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Feeding Scheme: Set up by Forte High school governing body to provide a lunch-time meal to learners during the school terms. There are a few schools attempting to ensure scholars stay at school and are finding innovative ways to assist these children. Forte High school were struggling to find resources to keep a feeding scheme running at the school. The Youth Village partnered with Forte High School, adopted the Feeding Scheme in 2009 and to date approximately 250 scholars from Forte High School and other secondary schools receive meals at the school.
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Organic Food Garden: The school has allocated land in the school to develop an organic garden. School learners and the YES Club have successfully grown a variety of vegetables for use in the feeding program at the school. Plans are underway to expand this project to other schools and homes.
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Food distribution during the December School Holidays: Each year food parcels as well as basic cosmetics are provided to sustain 120 learners; who are the heads of their families during the 8 week holiday period.
Aneshree Naidoo can be contacted on email or mobile: +27 82 773 4137
Future Plans
Bursary Fund
The Youth Village is passionate about ensuring assistance and aid to our youth in constructive and practical ways.
We found that many scholars did not really understand what was required of them in terms of their school performance for entrance to tertiary institutions. This year Youth Village invited a representative from the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) to provide guidance to the scholars regarding requirements for tertiary education. This will be an annual event in the Youth Village calendar for grade 8 and 9 scholars.
To build on this initiative, we are going to introduce a bursary program to the matriculated scholars. This year saw 10 YES! graduates matriculate. The bursary program will assist these youth leaders towards their chosen career path so they can become even more productive members of their community.
Donate to this initiative:
Bank Account Name: International Assocication for Human Values
Bank Name: First National Bank of South Africa
Bank Account Number: 6204 561 6119
Bank Branch Number: 250 737
Swift Account Number: FIRNZAJJ or FIRNZAJJ760
Bank Physical Address: 31 Rose Avenue, Lenasia, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1827
Reference for deposit: YOUTH VILLAGE_your name & surname
Contact: Youth Village project head, Aneshree Naidoo can be contacted on email or mobile: +27 82 773 4137
We offer 18A tax certificates upon request for donations of Rands 1000 or more made within the specified tax period.
Child headed & Indigent families
Child headed households are a result of the AIDS pandemic in South Africa and Africa as a whole. There is not a neighborhood in South Africa that is not plagued by this pandemic. This phenomena means that children under the age of 16 have been left to take responsibility of their younger siblings with little or no help from adults in their family.
This, together with general lack of economic resources has created an alarming large number of children who live in abject poverty and are indigent. Although the South African government subsidizes feeding programs in some primary schools, unfortunately all funding stops when the children enter secondary schools.
Therefore you have children who are faced with a difficult situation of how to find the resources to survive their teenage years.
There are very few choices available, they drop out of school and start some form of low paying employment where they are sure to be exploited or enter into a world of crime or find resources necessary to stay in school.
