Taking a swing for education
KILLARNEY - ORT South Africa's 41st annual golf day brought sporting enthusiasts and philanthropists together to raise a rumoured record sum for the non-profit organisation's work in community upliftment.
“They come year after year for the love of what ORT is doing,” said Ariellah Rosenberg, CEO of ORT South Africa, paying tribute to the charitable and sporting spirit that saw a full field of golfers take to the greens at Killarney Country Club on 26 October.
In accordance with tradition, threatening rain held off as it has every year, and golfers were able to enjoy a full day’s sport, followed by a prize giving and dinner.
First started by Advocate Bobby Levine, who teed off alongside other longtime participants, the golf day raises funds for ORT’s marginal costs, as well as for two special projects, the ORT Bursary Fund and ORT JET, a mentorship and support programme for struggling young entrepreneurs. Today, the event is organised by a committee whose head, Solly Burgin, has acted as convenor for seven years, and participated in the golf day for more than three decades.
The golf day’s focus, meanwhile, represents only a small fraction of ORT’s education and enterprise development work in underprivileged communities.
First founded in Russia in 1880, as an organisation to upskill and empower the Jewish community, ORT is now a worldwide organisation operating education and training programmes in more than 60 countries. According to Rosenberg, while it remains a Jewish organisation, the vast majority of ORT’s South African beneficiaries are non-Jewish, coming from underprivileged rural and township communities where the need for upliftment is greatest.
The focus of ORT’s programmes in South Africa is on training and equipping teachers in mathematics, science and technology, and providing entrepreuneurial skills to young business people. Sponsors can be confident that the allocation of every cent is carefully controlled, said Rosenberg, and co-ordination between sponsors and the department of education ensures sustainability. Moreover, a ‘whole school’ approach means that ORT not only trains teachers, but provides resources such as laptops and works on wider, pastoral issues such as student discipline.
“We actually walk the talk of equal education,” said Rosenberg.
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