Laying the Foundation: 2015 in review

After completing more than 40 projects over the past 13 years, the need to create equality in education and healthcare is bigger than ever. Our theme – therefore our goals – since 2015 has been ‘Laying the Foundation’.

While sounding attractive and perhaps conveniently synonymous with our name, it goes a lot deeper than that.  Our projects are focused, sustainable and outcomes driven. Laying the Foundation means focusing on mother-and-child healthcare, ensuring that neither a mother or child dies before, during, or after birth. It means that in emergencies, breadwinners don’t die and leave behind child-headed households.  It means that the poorest of the poor have access to learning resources and equipment they need to reach their full potential. It means that teachers are not left stranded without support while being overwhelmed with overcrowded classrooms. Quality healthcare and education is the key to break the poverty cycle and we are Laying the Foundation for communities to rise above the poverty line.

We started 2015 with big plans to complete numerous projects mapped out in 2014, and we are pleased to say that we experienced another successful year of influencing the lives of hundreds of thousands of South Africans. Here’s a quick look at what we accomplished over the past few months.

Tirisano-Mmogo Primary (1377 beneficiaries) 

We completed the project according to our project plan set out in 2014. Phase one of this project included security, a computer centre for children to start learning computer literacy, a science lab to start preparing children for high school science, new hygienic bathrooms, a library to aid literacy and English comprehension and a year of teacher training. We now move onto phase two, which is the monitoring and support phase. We intend to have an official handover of this project early 2016.
R2 million worth of equipment, resources and training has been invested in this project.

tirisano (click pictures to enlarge)

Leratong Hospital Paediatric Unit (1700 beneficiaries per year)

As our flagship health project, we headed back to Leratong in 2015 to attend to the immense need. Leratong is a referral hospital to over 70 health facilities in the area and often runs at over 100% capacity. After completing the Maternity and Neonatal units, the next step of the process was to address the crisis in the Paediatric Unit. We successfully completed this unit in time for the festive season. The unit was completed at a cost of R3 million.

Leratong

Kalafong Hospital (48 000 beneficiaries per year)

We look after our completed projects. Our new Accident & Emergency Unit at Kalafong desperately needed new ventilators. The unit sees 4000 patients a month so these machines are extremely important. Without ventilators patients cannot be stabilised therefore their chances of survival are slim. We met this vital need by acquiring two ventilators worth over R800 000.

Kalafong

A Night of Stars

An evening to recognise the real Stars of our projects – our donors – was held in May at The Venue, Melrose Arch. It was a great evening, made possible by many who came on board to sponsor the event. We look forward to recognising our 2015 donors again this year.

Event

Mandela Day

Mandela Day is always a busy period for us, and we encourage our donors to come out and get involved in community projects. We hosted three Mandela Day events in 2015, with over 250 staff from more than 20 companies doing actual work on our projects while being overseen by our teams. We look forward making real change again this year.

Mandela Day

Livingstone Hospital (180 000 beneficiaries per year)

Next on our agenda was heading to the Eastern Cape to assess the need in delivering quality healthcare, as predicted the need was vast. The upgrade to the Out Patients Department at Livingstone included over two hundred new comfortable seats in the reception and waiting area, as well as new admin furniture and equipment to allow staff to do their jobs efficiently. We created two fully equipped medical procedure rooms with a separate waiting area. The project was completed at a cost of R1.5 million.

Livingstone

Eerste River Hospital (60 000 beneficiaries per year)

Located in Khayelitsha, The Eerste River Hospital Emergency Centre treats an average of 1733 patients each month while 3419 patients are seen in outpatient department. By providing the new equipment totalling R1.6 million, we allowed for the following:  an immediate increase in surgical output, improved patient safety under anaesthetic, improved response to clinical emergencies, a redesigned recovery area for our post-op patients, and immediate improvement in quality patient care.

Eerste river

Manzomthombo Secondary School (1588 beneficiaries)

Our flagship education project in the Western Cape is Manzamthombo Secondary School. Manzomthombo is a typical township school – born out of a previously disadvantaged community, poor infrastructure setup (RDP structure), poorly trained educators and learners from a society riddled with social ills yet, against all odds, the school rises above all in striving for quality and excellence. We have already started at the school, and fundraising efforts and work will continue through 2016. In the Western Cape we we have identified five high schools in the Khayelitsha Sub-district with Manzomthombo being our first project and maths and science being our overall focus area.

Manzomthombo

Education in 2016

In 2016, to continue our vision for Cosmo-City, we have planned to do Tirisano-Mmogo’s feeder high school. At Sgodiphola Secondary School we will focus on the delivery of effective Science, Computer Studies and Literacy education. We will also be extending our science programme to Lethabong Secondary in Shoshanguve, north of Pretoria, as well as completing Manzomthombo Secondary in the Western Cape. We will also be identifying more schools (apart from the five identified in the Western Cape) around the country that need our assistance, with a focus of stemming the current crisis in science and maths at grade 10-12 level.

Sgodiphola

Health in 2016

We have already started fundraising efforts for the Antenatal Unit at Leratong, which treats pregnant women with the aim to ensure that they have a healthy pregnancy as well as prevent deaths before births and complications during birth. We will look to enhance our presence in the Eastern Cape, where we will announce our plans for the Province soon, as well as identify health facilities in Kwazulu-Natal that need our assistance.

Picture1

Thanks to all our donors

We would like to extend heartfelt thanks to our donors – big and small. Without your continued support we cannot do the work that we do. Over 250 000 people benefitted from our projects in 2015 and we look forward to expanding our presence to more communities in 2016. The team at SAME Foundation wishes you a prosperous 2016, we look forward to updating you with our progress throughout the year.