NPO celebrates golden anniversary
The local, non-profit organisation (NPO) celebrated their anniversary of serving society and making a difference in the lives of the less fortunate.
THE Hillcrest Advice Bureau and Bursary Fund (HAB & BF), hosted their 50-year golden anniversary celebration at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Hillcrest on June 3.
HAB & BF is a registered NPO established in 1972 by three members of the Black Sash. It offers various programmes which aid in carrying out their mission, that is to ’empower the Black underprivileged community around Hillcrest out of poverty through education, personal development and economic and social advice’.
Reverend Doris Sithole is the last surviving member of the ladies who founded the organisation. Six voluntary members and three part-time employees work to meet the needs within the disadvantaged rural communities of The Valley of a Thousand Hills. Governance is provided by four voluntary members who form the management committee, assisted by two lawyers.
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According to the NPO’s chairperson, Tanya Harvey, there are three main programmes offered by the NPO:
1. Every year, the Advice Bureau helps over 150 families get their proper subsidies and other benefits.
2. They provide access to schools and education and provide uniforms and food parcels to more than 100 severely impoverished children so they can attend school.
3. They provide matriculants with a series of workshops to help them choose relevant career paths. They also assist ten ‘high fliers’ from each of the high schools to apply for tertiary education spaces through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme through the Central Applications Office. This access to tertiary education assists 60 young people, who satisfy the stringent requirements in overcoming financial barriers to obtaining a tertiary degree.
Harvey added that the organisation is looking forward to assisting more tertiary students who require additional funding, maintaining the school-uniform program, and expanding the career workshops to include more of the Upper Highway quintile high schools, and expanding the Advice Bureau to areas other than KwaNyuswa.
“I am sad that there is still a need for our services – that children are still hungry and without clothes, that some super bright matric learners still can’t obtain places in tertiary institutions, that there are people who don’t have birth certificates or IDs, and that working people, who are contributing to society, can be disabled or killed in a road traffic accident as they go to their place of work, and they or their families have to wait years for compensation, if they ever get it.
“I am joyful that there are people, like the wonderful team I am part of, who work to overcome these injustices and who believe in the power of education to change the world. I am joyful that the people we are able to help, with a hand up and not a hand out, go forward into our society and inspire those around them, give back to their communities and contribute economically to this beautiful country through taxes and employment.
“I salute the team of volunteers who make up HAB and BF,” Harvey concluded.
