Mashawana’s 10 years of making a difference to the needy

Supporting child-headed households to building houses for the needy, has been the core business of the Collen Mashawana Foundation for the past 10 years.

With chair Collen Mashawana firmly believing in the impact created by public-private partnerships in poverty alleviation intervention programmes, it is no surprise that the who’s who of business, labour and politics, will next month attend a fund-raising gala dinner in celebration of the foundation’s decade.

Seen as a beacon of light in poverty eradication – touching rural and urban communities – the foundation has lived up to its mission.

Passionate about changing lives of people from previously disadvantaged communities for the better – through adopting a humanitarian triangle approach – the foundation has made immense contribution in such areas as providing essential assistance in housing, food distribution, safer water and sanitation.

In the past two years, the foundation has built over 260 homes and in the words of Mashawana “our plan is to build far more homes to address the challenge of housing shortage in the country”.

Said Mashawana:  “The foundation’s primary goal is to reach out to the most vulnerable within our communities.

“We have found that the lack of access to essential services is a key underlining factor – contributing to widespread poverty in South Africa.

“The consequence of this, is a society that does not have meaningful participation in its economy.

“We aim to mobilise social cohesion and assist in the eradication of poverty – with a strong belief that the responsibility to build our nation is not solely in the hands of government.

“If  we work together, we can achieve more.”

To celebrate a mammoth contribution made over the last decade, the foundation will be hosting a fundraising gala dinner on the 23 – celebrating several milestones in having given hope and dignity to child-headed families, people living with disabilities and the elderly.

“Our goal is to continue our mandate of restoring justice and dignity to the lives of the less fortunate, alleviate poverty and hunger – while building sustainable communities and economically active youth,” he said.

Also expected to grace the grand Mashawana occasion, will be community builders, grass-roots leaders, and foundation beneficiaries.

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Added Mashawana: “This gala dinner will be an incredible evening of celebration.

“We will be celebrating the people on which, we had the privilege to positively impact on –  individuals and stakeholders who made this all possible,” said foundation chief operating officer Austin Mashawana.

On the spectacular night, the foundation will also be giving away R50 000 to a publicly-nominated community builder on the night.

“We want to honour a community builder nominated by the public for a selfless commitment and outstanding work,” said Austin.

Another highlight will be the awarding of a home to the value of R1 million to the public through an SMS giveaway line.

–brians@citizen.co.za