Place of hope and refuge
2008-04-03
THE Miqlat organisation, a community uplift organisation, was established in Paarl in 1994 by Hester Veldsman to focus on poverty stricken families. Miqlat means place of refuge and hope in Hebrew. Its projects include Bowy House, a place of care for seriously ill children with Aids, the Mbekweni Outreach Programme which provides support including daycare facilities to this impoverished community, as well as a Youth Development Initiative called The Dream Team. The Hope Centre is currently under development in Paarl East to become a youth centre in a poverty stricken area with a very high incidence of drug abuse, gangs, violence and abuse. The Centre’s vision is to provide a safe haven where young people can gather to socialise, study, heal and participate in positive activities. Miqlat owns the 3 000 m² building, which has been used for some low intensity community based activities. Virgin Active is looking to sponsor the equipment of a gym facility and a charity organisation has pledged financial support for some of the structural renovations required. In addition, support is also needed for renovation to the building to facilitate the gym and other community focused sport activities as well as for setting up an aftercare centre. Paarl Media (including Paarl Print and Paarl Web) actively supports upliftment and education through the provision of access to excellent computer training facilities and will provide assistance to set up a learning centre at the new Hope Centre. It will be called the Paarl Media Leap Frog Learning Centre. This support will include Internet work stations to be used by local students and for further education programmes presented by Miqlat, as well as a library, providing desperately needed reference resource material. For more information about Miqlat, call the centre on 021863-4544.
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