Jewelers for Children/De Beers Launch S.A. Children's Charity
January 25, 06
Jewelers for Children and De Beers yesterday announced the launch of a joint project for co-funding a program of integrated childcare in Galeshewe, one of the largest urban settings in the
Galeshewe has very high levels of unemployment and associated social problems, as well as a high occurrence of AIDS. The consequences of these difficulties fall disproportionately on woman and especially on children. The integrated childcare program is a response to the challenge of providing for children made vulnerable and/or orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
The program is built on the principle of partnership and has received the endorsement of the provincial government authorities. A local childcare agency will be developed as a base from which a range of support networks will radiate into the community, providing direct relationships of care and counseling between trained care workers and identified vulnerable and/or orphaned children in their own homes.
The $600,000 funding, provided equally by Jewelers for Children and De Beers, will cover a mix of grant management, training of childcare workers and the establishment of childcare networks, refurbishment and construction costs to adapt existing facilities and possibly construct new dedicated centers from which services can be provided into the community.
At the signing ceremony in
“De Beers believes that we should ‘live up to diamonds’ in all that we do, and we are delighted to be working with Jewelers for Children and the US jewelry trade to make a real difference on the ground in South Africa, the birthplace of our industry,” said Gareth Penny, De Beers managing director.