Every year on 18 July we are reminded of Madiba's challenge to all of us: give 67 minutes of your time to make someone else's life better. One minute for every year he spent in service of this country.
This year, Acalytica is putting our 67 minutes (and a fair bit more) behind the Aluwani Foundation, an organisation doing remarkable work with orphaned and vulnerable children in rural Limpopo. And we are asking you to join us.
Who is Aluwani?
Aluwani means "to grow", and that is exactly what they have been doing in Ga-Dikgale for the past two decades.
Ga-Dikgale is a traditional community of 29 villages in the Capricorn District outside Polokwane. Like so many rural communities in South Africa, it carries a heavy load. Thousands of children there have lost parents or been left vulnerable by poverty, illness and neglect. Government services do not always reach that far, and outside charities tend to arrive with good intentions and leave when the funding dries up.
Aluwani took a different approach. Rather than running programmes from the outside, they have spent years building up the community's own capacity to look after its children. Today more than 3 500 children get daily care, meals and a safe place to be, through a network of 20 drop-in centres and early childhood development facilities across the villages. The people doing that work are 160 trained caregivers from the community itself, mostly mothers and gogos who live right there and are not going anywhere.
They also work closely with the traditional leadership under Kgosi Dikgale and partner with around 20 local organisations, so everything is done with the community and not around it. It's the old saying made real: it takes a village to raise a child. Aluwani is helping that village do exactly that.
Why we are getting involved
At Acalytica we spend our days helping people and businesses grow online. Mandela Day is a chance to put those same tools to work for something bigger than business. So we are lending Aluwani our platform, our audience and our voice, and we have made it dead simple for anyone to pitch in.
How you can help
Donate. Head to acalytica.com/aluwani and give whatever you can. It takes a minute, it is secure, and you can pay by card. Do not underestimate a small amount either. In a rural community, a few hundred rand covers real things: meals for a child at a drop-in centre, supplies for a facility, support for a caregiver doing the daily work.
Share. If money is tight, share the page instead. Send acalytica.com/aluwani to your family WhatsApp group, post it on LinkedIn or Facebook, put it on your status. The share buttons are right there on the page. You never know who in your network has been looking for exactly this kind of cause to support.
Partner or volunteer. If you run a business, Aluwani welcomes CSI partnerships, corporate giving and in-kind donations. If you have skills to offer, whether that is training, mentorship or professional support, get in touch through the contact form on the page.
67 minutes goes a long way
Mandela Day was never meant to be about grand gestures. It is about ordinary people doing what they can, where they are. This Saturday, 18 July, that could be as simple as a donation, a share, or a message to someone who can help.
Visit acalytica.com/aluwani to donate, share or get involved. Let us do our bit.
The Aluwani Foundation is a registered South African non-profit working in Ga-Dikgale, Limpopo. You can also find them on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
