HOUT BAY PROJECT

About Hangberg and Hout Bay project

Hangberg is one of the two townships in Hout Bay (Cape Town), a small community just twenty minutes from downtown Cape Town. 

Hagberg has a population of about 15,000 people and within that population we find two types of indigenous groups: Khoi-Khoi and Colored. Both live in Hout Bay with a predominantly white population, which controls all economic resources.

In this small township the main problems are: land ownership, unemployment (especially youth), drugs, loss of values and lack of economic resources.

Hout Bay Project is the solution that from Meraki Bay we propose to improve the present and future of the community. We support our project based on four pillars: Children, women’s empowerment, entrepreneurship and sustainability.

Although distinct, the four pillars are united. There are synergies between them and they are our four forces to achieve a better community in the future.

In the pillar of childhood, the objective is that the children of Houties and Leopards can get to study and receive specific training to later develop as professionals, we also want the students of now to be the monitors in the future.

In the empowerment pillar we want to support all the women in the community who support their families. We have two workshops: one for young women and one for older women. The goal of both is the same: to empower them.

Within entrepreneurship, we seek to generate income in the community and motivate locals to carry out an economic activity.

Finally, through the pillar of sustainability, our latest incorporation, we seek to educate young and old in caring for the environment. We clean the community, we do recycling and water care workshops, and we have built an eBaobab! It is made with recycled material and in the glass there are solar panels that provide free energy to the Hangberg Primary School.

Childhood

Education, protection of childhood, its integration into society and defense of a healthy lifestyle are our principles. We want to help the little ones. N Our current projects are: Houties, Leopards and the dental project.

Empowerment of the Women

We encourage the participation of women in the community, their economic development and their independence within it. We fight for equality. Our project consists of weekly workshops with women.

Entrepreneurship

We support local entrepreneurs by advising them and giving them technical and economic support. We want the local population to fight for its development. Our projects are the Huerto and the cafeteria.

Houties

The Project

Houties is the first youth group in Hangberg and born in July 2018. With this program we intend to address three key points for the training of children in the community: health, motivation and values. What is intended is to address each of these aspects through games, workshops, talks, sports and excursions in a fun and enriching way for them.

The children of the community go to Houties every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and, depending on the day, we do one activity or another. They are:

Monday Art & Craft: we make crafts to awaken your creativity and sensitivity towards the arts.
Wednesday Sports: we play games and team sports to acquire values such as companionship, generosity and respect, among others.
Thursday Life-skills: in the workshops the little ones have fun and instill in them and explain essential aspects for their lives, such as oral hygiene, puberty, the environment or first aid.
Fridays Outdoors: we do a small excursion and it is the reward for attending the rest of the week at Houties. It is a very special day because it allows children to move away for a few hours from their community.
Saturday: On Saturdays the Houties perform a cleaning of the beach or the community in the mornings.
Being a program with children in delicate situations, we measure success by following the assistance of each of the children in the program. The people who are in charge every day of the week have an attendance form and, if the children come all or almost every day, it means that the program is working as we expected, the children are enjoying and we are getting that do not come into contact with drugs, alcohol, etc.

Objective

Through the Houties program we want to move the children of Hangberg away from the usual problems of their community, such as drug addiction, alcoholism, unwanted pregnancies or school absenteeism. The objective is to prevent children from coming into contact with the problems discussed and to educate them in values and skills for their future benefit.

Costs

Currently Houties has a monthly cost of 8000R (€ 540) that is used to pay the salaries of each of our monitors, a total of four, the materials of the activities, snacks and excursions.

We finance ourselves with specific and periodic donations received through our website and partnerships local companies such as Fish On the Rocks or Spar.

Project status

The youth group is already closed. We have talked with the parents of the children to have their consent and the training of the monitors is finished. The team is organized in pairs and every day of the week there are two responsible for leading the activity. The number of children that usually come ranges between 30-35 per session.

More info

Hout Bay Leopards

The Project

The Hout Bay Leopards, formerly known as Dash Leopards, is the local football team of the Hangberg community. This young club registered as a non-profit NGO aims to take children out of the street and encourage sports in the community, specifically football.

The main problem with this team is the lack of funds. Previously, they had the DASH sponsor that provided them with all the material, paid the inscriptions to the leagues and provided them with a monthly amount that was used to pay the salaries of the coaches. However, the sponsor withdrew its funds and this has caused the Leopards to need funding urgently.

Objective

Our goal is to keep the Leopards running. We want:

Get some football team to donate the necessary sports equipment, either new or second hand that the club does not need. (Obtained the Valencia Foundation for solidarity has donated material that will serve us for about 2 years) </ li>
Campaign fundraising to endow the club with funds. </ li>
Find sponsors that through sponsorship in the T-shirts or with the name can finance the team monthly. </ li>
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Costs

The annual cost of Leopards, without counting on sports equipment, is 152,205R annually, which is equivalent to about € 10,000 (€ 1 = € 15R)

State

We have got all the sports equipment for children and coaches for two years. We keep working to get everything we need.

Support Childhood

Dental Project

The Project

The dental project aims to take care of the oral health of the children of Houties. For this, every six months (February and July) a team of professional dentists will move to Hangberg to work with the children for two weeks. They will carry out the corresponding revisions and interventions.

In addition, the team of dentists will prepare for the Houties workshops and workshops on oral health and on the use of the toothbrush. A toothbrush will also be given to each boy and girl so that at the end of each session of Houties they brush and take the habit.

Objective

Our goal is to take care of the children’s dental health (also that of the monitors) and to transmit basic hygiene knowledge.

State

The next date will be between February 9-22, 2020. If you are a dentist or dental student of last year and want to join our team, send an email to [email protected]

The project will be carried out in two sections in February and July and will last two weeks. The maximum number of places is four.

Support Childhood

Weekly Workshops

The Project

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), women, particularly women living in rural areas, are one of the most vulnerable groups within the group of poor workers and that is why we have decided to start from Meraki Bay as well. A project with them.

Our workshops are formed by a group of six women between 55 and 80 years old. Every Tuesday and Thursday they meet at the Hangberg library and work on different projects that motivate them to later sell those products in a local market and earn extra income. So far they have sewn the Houties scarves and fabric organizers.

In January we also started with the project for young women. We have just started but we already have four girls, between 16 and 19 years old, who are trying to instill feminist values, to make them see that their gender does not limit their aspirations. The project is led by our Coach Dene and they are intended to empower in different aspects (self defense, help to carry out CV, professional orientation …)

Objective

The goal of women is to empower them, give them materials and resources to be independent and be able to opt for the same jobs as men.

We also suggest small business ideas so they can earn income.

State

The young group meets twice a week, led by our Coach Dene, we try to make the sessions motivating and enriching.

The group of older ladies also meets twice a week autonomously and manufactures materials that we then sell in local markets.

Support Empowerment

Tours

The Project

The Tours project aims to show a person outside the community the reality that is lived there and the Meraki Bay project by the hand of a local person, specifically our Coach Nicolas.

Objective

The objective of this project is twofold:

1. Teach the reality of the community to outsiders to raise awareness and try to make them share in the change we intend to make.

2. Develop a business that allows to generate income for Nicolas and that he can get to live from it

Costs

Currently the cost is 0.

Although the plan is 2020 is to get the official tourist guide certification for Nicolas, cost of € 1000.

State

Tours are being promoted through the AIRBNB platform. For more information visit this link:

https://www.airbnb.es/experiences/585442

Moringa Bars

The Project

Moringa is a tree that offers valuable nutritional and energy resources, and stands out for its medicinal properties: from combating fatigue, cholesterol or inflammatory processes to preventing infections.

From Meraki Bay we have seen an opportunity in Moringa to use it to make 100% ecological and health-friendly energy bars.

Objective

The objective is to generate a network for the manufacture and commercialization of the bars that allow generating work and a legal source of income for the community.

Costs

We invest € 400 initial to buy seeds, plant them in the garden and buy the first materials to produce the bars. More money will be needed in the future to promote the commercialization of the bars

State

The bars are already manufactured and sold in weekend markets and in local businesses; nevertheless, for the real success of the company it is still necessary to set up a correct distribution network which will take time.

Eco – Garden

Objective

The objective of this project is to build an orchard in the school that serves several things:

1. Generate a job.

2. Cultivate moringa.

3. Grow vegetables and then sell them in a local market.

State

Currently the garden is already complete and has created a job. Marco is our manager, we have sold our first vegetables and the moringa has begun to germinate.

Thanks

We want to thank Urban Harvest and Reliance, two companies that support us with the daily maintenance of the garden. We also want to thank our volunteers for their help, together we have made possible the creation of this garden (MEC).

Suppor Entrepreneurship

eBaobab

The Project

Our eBaobab is unique in the world. It is the first sustainability project and involves the construction of a tree made with recycled materials, usually plastic collected in the community, and structured vertically to finally install solar panels on the glass. The energy obtained through these plates is used for the Primary School and is free.

objective
The objective is to make the Hangberg community aware of the importance of keeping the favela clean, the importance of recycling and respecting the environment.

Actions

We prepare ecobricks for the eBaobab. But, in addition, within the synergies that characterize Meraki, we apply other activities to publicize our tree and enhance sustainability:

1. Weekly cleaning of the school by the Houties.

2. Cleaning of the Hout Bay beach and the community by the Houties.

3. Promotion of the organic garden

Leadership

Our coach Marco is responsible for supervising and leading these actions.

Suppor Entrepreneurship