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News - Date: 04 April 2014
In a unique joint venture, a private initiative and a local municipality in Limpopo have pooled their resources to ensure a brighter future for vulnerable children in Alldays.
In what is believed to be a historic first in South Africa, the private initiative of the Mapungubwe Foundation, in collaboration with the local municipality of Alldays, will be opening its orphanage and day-care centre for some 164 orphaned and vulnerable children in the town officially this month.
The festive opening on 19 April will bring the initiative of Swedish landowner Mr Leif Rahmqvist to fruition. Touched by the situation of the large number of orphaned and vulnerable children in town, he decided to do something to get them off the streets to a safe and sheltered life. In January 2013, he established the Mapungubwe Foundation Centre and, during the past year, raised money - mainly from donors in Sweden. One year later, in January 2014, the construction work started and now, almost three months later, the centre is taking shape and children will soon be moving in on the site made available for the centre by the local municipality.
In a statement released this week, the Mapungubwe Foundation states that there are many great private initiatives and volunteer efforts working to improve the lives of children in South Africa. “However, the project of Mr Rahmqvist is unique as it is the first time in South African history that such a private initiative is done in conjunction with the local municipality.”
Running the Mapungubwe Foundation Centre is a long-term commitment with, in principle, no area of support being excluded. “To ensure that the project continues over many years to come, Mr Rahmqvist realized it had to be done in cooperation with the local community. Thus he invited its social officers to join the board and to take an active part in planning the activities at the Centre,” the foundation says.
The opening of the centre will start at 09:00 in Alldays.
Frans van der Merwe is a freelance journalist with more than 40 years experience in the newspaper industry. Apart from newspaper reporting, he was also involved with radio news, news reading, training and marketing. He has been living and working in Louis Trichardt since 1991.
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