NPO pays 30 local pupils’ school fees

THIRTY pupils at St Paul’s Primary School in Schotsche Kloof, Bo-Kaap, will have their educational expenses covered for one year thanks to a R123 000 donation from a US non-profit organisation, Project Promise.

The donation handed over by Project Promise founder and president Reisa O’Reilly last week, formed part of celebrating Nelson Mandela’s centenary.

O’Reilly, who is a resident of St Croix in the US Virgin Islands, came to South Africa in February to work at St Paul’s Primary School, which caters for children from the Bo-Kaap, as well as from disadvantaged communities including Gugulethu, Langa, Delft and Makhaza in Khayelitsha.

“I fell in love with the country and the children that I worked with.

“I knew the re was more I could do to help,” said O’Reilly.

During her time at the school, she had discovered that although many of the Grade 1 pupils attending the school were poor, their parents were expected to pay for their daily travel and other educational expenses.

O’Reilly said that the Caterpillars, which comprises of 12- and 13-year-old participants in Project Promise’s flagship programme, The Caterpillar Project, had raised over $1 000 ((R13 400), often collecting donations of $1 at a time, towards the St Paul’s donation for the education of three of the affected local pupils.

Continuing in the spirit of

I fell in love with the country and the children… I knew there was more I could do to help

Madiba’s efforts to uplift his fellow countrymen, Project Promise recently launched the St. Croix Trauma Intervention and Relief Project.

St Croix Trauma Intervention and Relief Project trains members in the community to become trauma-informed life coaches that allow them to visit hard-hit areas and schools to work with residents and students who still reel from the psychological and emotional effects of 2017 hurricanes.

June had marked the start of hurricane season and many residents of the island are still displaced and day-to-day life was not back to normal.

But despite this reality, their community came together to help others, such as St Paul’s, who are also in need.

O’Reilly has extended her appreciation to her organisation’s board members, staff, volunteers, Caterpillars and friends, whose contributions have made a tremendous difference in the lives of 30 families and an entire school.