Brave Rock Girl’s mission is to inspire and empower future girl leaders and over the past couple of years we increased our support for the 90 adolescent girls we work with. Girls’ access to education remains a priority for us. It came to our attention that the need for school supplies remains high and the impact it has on whether or not girls stay in school is significant. Therefore BRAVE is launching the Donate 2 Educate fundraising campaign to provide the girls with necessary school supplies.
Our team spoke to the girls who expressed how hard it is for their parents/ caregivers to provide them with school supplies. Many shared that there is only one person working in the household that has to provide for everyone’s needs and because the person is already providing for food and bills they cannot manage to buy school supplies. In other households, no-one is working and they are dependent on government grants which barely covers food and rent. Girls feel ashamed of sitting in a classroom not having a proper pen or book, they get bullied and it takes a toll on their mental health. This frequently leads to girls dropping out of school and makes them more vulnerable than they already are.
“I have experienced this first hand as a child growing up in a two bedroom house with 12 people with my grandparents being the sole breadwinners in the house. My grandmother used her government grant along with our child grants to provide for food and paying bills and here and there she found funds for clothing and my grandpa did odd jobs just to keep the lights on. I saw how they suffered and stressed when a new school year came around. I never had all my school supplies and always felt ashamed and out of place and it made it difficult for me to stay focused on my education. BRAVE did not have the necessary funds to provide us with our stationery at the time so the founder took out of her own pocket to buy me and a few other girls our basic necessities. This was a game changer for us, having my basic school needs kept me motivated to complete school.” – Audery February, a Senior Leader
Over the past 2 years BRAVE provided the girls with all their stationery supplies with the help of our funders. This year we are calling on friends, partners, and individuals to donate to this cause as it brings a girl one step closer to becoming an economically independent woman. To donate please make a deposit to: Bank: Nedbank | Branch: Sea Point | Account Name: Brave Rock Girl 168-667 NPO | Account Number: 120 8988 824 | Branch Code: 198765 | Swift Code: NEDSZAJJ. For more information email: lorna@bravesa.org.za
