Local heroes uplift their communities
Heart FM gives key upliftment drive in Darling a welcome boost
THE DARLING Trust was established by household name Pieter-Dirk Uys to alleviate some of the socio-economic challenges faced by the people of Darling. It operates with the collaboration of the key stakeholders in the community in order to target specific areas of need in education, skills development and health.
Its primary mandate was to redress the imbalances between rich and poor and also to provide opportunities for residents who were previously disadvantaged.
The focus, to find ways to create opportunities for learning, has not changed but has morphed into the development of individuals both young and old and tackling Early Childhood Development.
The trust also employs single mothers who come from Asla, a nearby township, which helps ease some of the burdens of being breadwinners.
“I believe that it’s important that we as the citizens of South Africa equip and empower the people,” said Hentie van der Merwe, one of the body’s trustees.
“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day but if you teach a man how to fish he will eat for a lifetime.”
This old adage is the pervasive theme for the Darling Swop Shop, a project aimed at empowering the youth to look after their community by collecting recyclable material in exchange for tokens which can be used to obtain toys, books and school stationery.
The project started in February 2013 and up to 219 tons of waste have been recycled, with the proceeds being injected back into the project, which have helped to buy more toys, food, goodies and school stationery.
Corrie Windt, his wife and two other founders started the initiative and added an educational component where local children are taken to Langebaan and taught about the local fauna and flora and encouraged to clean up the lagoon.
Operating twice a week during afterschool hours, the children bring the waste to the centre where they are given a token, their waste weighed and they redeem the tokens in exchange for items of their choice.
The founders make a concerted effort to visit some of their families to understand their circumstances and thus guide the children on their next visit.
“Cleanliness in our towns is very important. Our town is much cleaner than it was six years ago.
“We are also very lucky that the municipality comes to collect some of our glass material. It is a wonderful journey and the community has been quite supportive,” says Corrie Windt.
During Heart FM’s provincial journey to uplift disenfranchised communities throughout the #16DaysForYouth project, the Darling Swop Shop was revisited and provided with an additional, larger container jam-packed with toys, books, school stationery and other goodies.
The station also visited créches and educational centres and saw to the feeding of the masses in the area.