The Trust has been given a boost by taking up membership of the Ramla SA-UK Trust Network.
The organisation describes itself as “a forum where representatives of UK-based trusts and charities, supporting their southern and South African partner organisations, can interact and further their common purpose: the development and upliftment of southern and South Africa”.
The Network provides useful guidance and resources for charities and hosts regular events that provide opportunities for charity representatives to make contact and exchange ideas and information.
A few of our trustees have attended recent Network events and have found them to be of value. Often, over the years, we have felt ourselves to have been working in some isolation. But the Network has given us inspiration through sharing experiences with many other charities, large and small, all aiming to better the lives of people in southern and South Africa.
Events often feature member charities doing amazing work. Examples range from Taking Care of Business, a major initiative giving unemployed people the chance to escape poverty through small business opportunities, to the Mzimkhulu Trust, supporting early learning at a single school; and from the Education and Feeding Scheme founded by anti-apartheid campaigner the late Bishop Trevor Huddlestone, running a chain of community centres, to Zabra, an initiative collecting pre-used bras, sending them to SA and distributing them to women who cannot afford to buy them.
Our charity shares much in common with other member charities operating in the higher education sector in SA, such as the Canon Collins Trust and the Rhodes University Trust UK. We hope that collaborative efforts will bring benefits for our Trust.
Note that Network membership is only open to organisations and not to individuals.