© Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn | All rights reserved. 2018 – 2021
Our Current Projects
Alexandra Education Committee (AEC) Project. We’ve been involved with AEC, a public benefit and non-profit organization, since 2020.
The AEC provides three type of assistance to low-income families in Alexandra township: 1. Bursaries for promising learners 2. Saturday schooling for grade six and seven pupils to assist them meet the educational criteria expected at this level. Maths, English, Physical Science, Accounting and Coding. 3. Monthly after school upliftment training programs for teachers to enhance their level of teaching skills. Maths, English and classroom management.
World Cleanup Day is the largest annual one-day event, uniting volunteers in 191 countries to combat waste and plastic pollution.
Using World Cleanup Day banner as a rallying point, we revitalized Johannesburg’s 40+ km River and Park network through collaboration with volunteer groups, Residents Associations, Rotary and Interact Clubs, schools, city agencies, and corporate sponsors.
The Donate A Loo Schools Project aims to provide safe, reliable, decent sanitation as a means to restore dignity to school children.
Donate A Loo Schools Project has already installed 18 loos in Paradise Bend, Durban Deep, Kgotso Nursery School and Remogatswe Nursery School.
“We will be rolling out this project to more créches and nursery schools as we receive funding,” says Helene Bramwell, Founder of the Donate A Loo.
Donate A Loo Schools Project has been adopted by the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn as one of the worthy causes it supports.
The Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn hopes to help identify schools where the Donate A Loo Schools Project will improve the quality of children’s lives.
Woodside Sanctuary is a Non-Profit Organisation which gives profoundly intellectually disabled children and adults – and their families – not just care and stimulation, but a “home from home” environment, love, and hope. It is run by a committee of professionals and business people. It provides nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, remedial therapy, medical and other therapeutic services to residents, many of whom no longer have parents or have families that cannot afford to pay its fees. It also offers training workshops and follow-up support to others operating in disadvantaged areas.
The Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn has had a long association with Woodside Sanctuary. Rtn Paul Kasango is its chairman. The club donates toiletries, clothing, and linen on an ongoing basis, and tries to provide some of the items on the Woodside Sanctuary’s wishlist. It made sure there were enough Easter eggs to go around this year.
The Link Literacy Project, a Non-Profit Organisation, supports the development of literacy and numeracy in children whose second language is English, and who attend low-income schools in Johannesburg.
It was founded in 2010 by Margi Bashall, a teacher committed to equal educational opportunities, with the main objective of equipping children with basic literacy and numeracy competencies at the early age of 8 or 9 (Grades 2 & 3).
The Link Literacy Project is managed and staffed by volunteers, and is recognised by the Gauteng educational authorities. Link also have permission to operate during school hours, working with children identified through recognised assessments as needing help.
The Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn has sponsored the establishment of a maths literacy classroom in Orange Grove and a couple of our Rotarians are among the volunteers who work with the children.
Seedling Project
In 2020, we donated a hydroponic seedling tunnel to the Urban Agriculture Initiative (UAI) at the National School of Arts.
Following the discontinuation of the UAI project in 2021, the young women who had been working on the farm, and were facing unemployment, took over the tunnels and formed Lemang Fresh Tables (LFT) to continue the good work of urban farming.
Other Initiatives Periodically Supported
Christ Church Christian Care Centre
The Christ Church Christian Care Centre, known as the 5Cees, is a hostel located in a former hotel in Berea, Johannesburg, and cares for children from birth to the age of 18. The children are referred there by Social Services and are often abandoned babies or street children. The hostel provides then with a caring environment. Those who are old enough attend local schools.
Over the years, the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn has sponsored one of their soccer teams, stocked their library with books, set up a computer center and channeled donations of food their way. Most recently the club sponsored the children’s school uniforms, donated them Easter eggs, and gave them enough paint to cover the exterior of the building.
Woodside Sanctuary is a Non-Profit Organisation which gives profoundly intellectually disabled children and adults – and their families – not just care and stimulation, but a “home from home” environment, love, and hope. It is run by a committee of professionals and business people. It provides nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, remedial therapy, medical and other therapeutic services to residents, many of whom no longer have parents or have families that cannot afford to pay its fees. It also offers training workshops and follow-up support to others operating in disadvantaged areas.
The Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn has had a long association with Woodside Sanctuary. Rtn Paul Kasango is its chairman. The club donates toiletries, clothing, and linen on an ongoing basis, and tries to provide some of the items on the Woodside Sanctuary’s wishlist. It made sure there were enough Easter eggs to go around this year.
Jozi Book Fair
Khanya College describes itself as an independent, non-governmental organisation based in Johannesburg. It was established in 1986, and its primary aim is to provide educational and training workshops, publications and research, to organisations and individuals in working class and poor communities.
Khanya organises the Jozi Book Fair, which aims to promote a culture of reading and writing through interactive partnerships between readers, writers, communities, and especially small publishers. The Fair provides an opportunity for creative engagement, and the exchange of ideas in English and indigenous languages through a range of activities such as seminars, readings, book launches, training and exchange of skills, debates, conversations, film screenings, and children’s programmes.
Hotel Hope Ministries
Hotel Hope Ministries is a registered South African non-profit organisation which aims to ensure orphaned and abandoned children are raised in safe, happy and healthy homes and become responsible and positive adults.
It does this by helping babies in need, creating and supporting small, family -style foster homes for orphaned and abandoned babies; providing young mothers facing unplanned pregnancies with counseling, guidance and practical support; and helping mothers and fathers to help themselves by providing jobs and skill development opportunities through fundraising and trading projects.
Its funding model aims to allow the generation of funds, via its charity shops and carpentry and sewing workshops, to cover all its administration costs.
The Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn has helped Hotel Hope by providing toiletries and other items on its wish list, the club has donated Easter eggs to the children, and has sponsored the purchase of a flatbed truck to collect items donated to its charity shop.