By Katelyn Panzarella | Project Leader
Everyone at Moya Centre is so humbled by the success of our first-ever crowdfunding campaign, which has earned us a permanent spot on GlobalGiving. We could never thank our donors enough for their support, but can only continue to live up to our promise of provding educational and psycho-social support for the neediest children of our catchment area in Lobamba Lomdzala, Eswatini.
To provide a bit of background, the Holistic School Sponsorship program is not a new project for Moya Centre. We have been providing this package since 2009, with 608 students being supported for 4-year sponsorships since that time. We have a very low drop-out rate of 4%, and due to the difficult circumstances many of our kids face, we do give those who fail a second chance. Moya Centre decided to apply for the Accelerator Program through GloblGiving this year, as we were coming to a point with our funding where we would be forced to decrease our sponsorships going forward. This is in great part due to the ever-increasing cost of living in Eswatini, coupled with stagnant (but appreciated!) funding that has remained the same for many years. We find the program so successful, and would like to continue to sponsor as many orphaned and vulnerable students as possisble moving forward. Launching this campaign has definitely helped us to maintain this program.
We currently have 133 sponsored students in our program. Without our GlobalGiving donors, we would have been forced to not replace those who gradute in 2019, with new students in 2020. Yet, because of this fundraiser, we will be able to replace at least some of those students. With the funding received so far, we will be able to fill a minimum of 11 spots with deserving high-school students.
In terms of the Holistic Sponsorship program for 2019, we recently hosted our end-of year workshops with sponsored students, which is motivational in nature. Since it takes place the week before exams begin, we give tips on studying, and how to best approach exams. We also have a session on gardening for nutritional sustainability, and community service over the long holiday break. For our Form 5 graduates, we take it a step further by providing a "Life After High School" workshop. We capacitate the students on writng CV's, attending job interviews, applying for tertiary scholarships, as well as giving tips on how to cope with such a big transition of leaving school. We also educate the students on programs we run for our alumni, which we are working hard to grow even more in the future.
Although we are unable to provide much of an update for the project funded on GlobalGiving, as it begins in January 2020, we have informed our parter highs schools of where we currently stand, and the process that will take place at the start of next year. Please note that the school year runs from end of January to start of December in Eswatini. We have updated the project to a new goal of 20+ sponsorhips, doubling our original financial goal. It would be ideal to be able to fill 35 spots, which matches the number of outgoing graduates, and we will continue working towards this to maintain the same scope of the program in 2020.
Once again, Thank you to all of our donors and supporters for beleiving in Moya Centre, and the work we are doing. For the holiday season, we have added a second project of urgent need: Dignity Packs for the neediest students in all 8 of our partner primary and high schools. Dignity packs provide the kids with the necessary items to maintain proper hygiene, and therefore lifting their self-esteem and confidence. As we are new to the platform, and crowdfunding in general, and we are coming up on the Giving Season, we humbly ask for your assistance in helping us broaden our network by introducing others to Moya Centre, what we are doing, and what we are looking to achieve through the support of our global community.
Siyabonga Kakhulu! (Thank you so much!)
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