PROPOSAL FOR FUNDING FOR PHOENIX SPIRITUAL AND WELFARE CENTRE

· Organisational details
Name and Address
Phoenix Spiritual and Welfare Centre
109 Rainham Road
Rainham
Phoenix
4068
P O Box 3443
Somerset Park
3420
· Contact Persons and numbers
oMrs Saras Perumal – Chairperson – 031 5393840 084 4446146
o Mrs Cheryl Vayapuri 031 5027702 084 4550009
· The Organisation has various branches throughout the country, with each branch working towards common goals and aims to assist and provide for vulnerable individuals and groups.
We have branches in the following areas:
oDurban and Surrounding Area
§Demat
§Isipingo
§Lotus Park
§Shallcross
§Umhlatuzana
§Marianhill
§Merebank
§Newlands
§Westcliff, Chatsworth

oNorth Coast
§Rainham Phoenix
§Woodview, Phoenix
§Redfern, Phoenix

oSouth Coast
§Umzinto
§Park Rynie
§Sezela

oNorthern Kwazulu Natal
§Pietermartizburg

oGauteng
§Lenasia

oCape
§Cape Town

· Mission Statement
To aid and provide for, vulnerable individuals and groups.

· Vision
To establish a spiritual, cultural, health and welfare centre that responds to the holistic needs of the community for their better life and living. To strive to eliminate unemployment, poverty, violence, drug addiction and the HIV endemic from our society through timely interventions, assistance to victims and perpetrators and preventative programmes comprising, awareness campaigns, provision of information, educational and empowerment programmes and services, skills training and psychological and physical assistance.

· Aims
The Phoenix Spiritual and Welfare Centre has been working very closely with the community of Phoenix and the surrounding areas for thirty years, which is a sub economic community plagued by unemployment, poverty, drug addiction and abuse.

The aim of the Wefare Society of the organisationsis to provide comprehensive services to the community as detailed below :-

oSkills training
oBursaries
oCounselling Services
oSeminars, lectures and workshops
oLiterary classes and supplementary education for pupils and students
oYouth activities and empowerment programmes
oHealth Clinics – particularly to serve the aged and indigent
oBlood Camp
oLegal Aid Clinic
oFeeding schemes
oSocial outreach programmes
oHIV and AIDS programmes
oAlternate healing programmes
oReligious services and festivals
oYoga classes
oMeditation classes
oVocal and instrumental music and dance classes
oVernacular Education

· Intervention
For acute problems: counseling, care and referrals to appropriate programmes, NGO and government organisation.

Sustained intervention: programmes for rehabilitation, self sufficiency and entrepreneurship

· Programmes

oSewing and craft classes – takes place on a weekly basis. Unemployed persons are taught skills in sewing, beading and craft making. At the end of the course we hope to self empower these people with a skill that they can either turn into a home business to become self sufficient or to teach others the skill or to find employment, that will assist them and sustain them and their families. Unemployed woman benefit the most from these classes.

oCooking and baking classes – cooking and baking classes are held weekly by volunteers and the purpose again is to arm them with skills that will enable them to become self sustaining and to assist empower others in the community or to either find employment armed with the skill.

oMedical and blood Camps
Medical camp and blood clinics are held on a regular basis in conjunction with other organisations with similar goals. The service is provided to the indigent, aged and unemployed. Specialised medical officers provide their diagnostic and curatuve services at no cost. After the initial visit to the camps and assessment, patients are either referred to the appropriate treatment centre or a follow up is done by the volunteer specialist at their private room at no cost. The last camp held 142 patients were attended to and jajority of the patients attending these camps come from the informal settlements.

oDrug Awareness Campaign
The drug awareness campaign although targets the whole community, is specifically aimed at the youth, in schools and tertiary institutes. At present all cases are referred to the local rehab centers, counselors and welfare centers. However in the future these will be handled solely by the organisation, as work on a rehabilitation centre in Umzinto is underway and will be fully operational next year, with stay- in facilities and the necessary professional help that is required for the rehabilitation.

oFree Matric lessons are held at the venue every Sunday afternoon and is provided by a band of dedicated volunteer educators. Classes are held to assist the underprivileged students who cannot afford the extra tuition fees. Although only lessons for matriculants are offered, the venue is available to all students, scholars, tertiary students and adults furthering their education, to study. We hope to expand this service next year to include more subjects and are also investigating the commencement of adult based education training, as there are many illiterate people in the community.

oDistribution of foods hampers to the indigent and aids orphans -
Substantial food parcels are distributed on a regular basis to the underprivileged and aid orphans in the community. These hampers are donated by members of the organisation. Between 25 – 35 hampers are distributed.

oCultural Classes

·Vernacular Languages - At present Tamil and Hindi are taught during the week. We want to expand the vernacular education programme to cover, Zulu, Telegu, and Gujerati. We have approached a number of people to assist us and hope to start these lessons early next year.
·Music Classes – vocals and musical instruments - These classes are conducted twice a week. Due to the fact that we have limited resources in musical instruments, we are unable to assist much, except to offer our venue and the few instruments we have available. Saturday's instrument classes are for children coming predominantly from the sub-economic community, where we share instruments among the student. To expand the instrument classes we require different types of instruments, viz, table, harmonium, violin, flute and mrindingum and perhaps another teacher to assist.

·Dance Classes – Classical dance (Barthanatachyam) classes are held on a weekly basis to promote and preserve our culture. We wish to expand this to include a dance drama programme as part of our overall cultural capacity building. We intend teaching Kathak, Bharthanatachyam, village folk and Zulu Dance.


·Beneficiaries

oUnemployed people – skills development, and entrepreneurship development.
oVulnerable people – domestic violence and abuse.
oAid Orphans – distribution of food parcels and reintegration into society.
oDrug abuse victims – counseling and rehabilitation, in future rehabilitation at Umzinto.
oUnderprivileged – free tuition and music and dance lessons.


·Future Plans and projects

oDevelopment of Phoenix and Spiritual Centre Property to include a skills training and development centre.
oTo also include living quarters for spiritual visitors and temporary shelter for the desperately abused.
oDevelopment of the Umzinto Centre to be used as a rehabilitation Centre, drug addicts, alcoholism, etc. and a temporary shelter for aids orphans, street children and abused
oEstablishment of a vegetable garden for the indigent households.
oEstablishment of a helpline.
oFree computer classes with a medium to long term view of establishing a call centre.

·Conclusion

The organisation is run solely by finances donated from the generous sub- economic community it is based in and from fund raising events by the organisation. All services provided by the organisation are offered free of charge to the community.
There is an increasing need from vulnerable individuals and groups.