Cause Index

Samuels Siza Foundation

Why donate?
Durban is facing a major challenge with homelessness.
A major segment of this are the beggars.
Most of us are frustrated with the beggars at our intersections.
We feel the guilt of rejecting them when we ignore their pleas and the same guilt when we give in and hand over a little cash knowing that when we do this we are supporting bad and illegal behavior at the traffic lights.
We understand this challenge and the major problem of unemployment and have thus taken action by digging into our pockets to do something about it.
You would have noticed the beggars with bright red t-shirts at intersections across Durban advising the community that they are no longer begging. We have fed them and paid them a stipend. The objective was to create public awareness and to start conversations around our initiative. We thank you for your overwhelming and positive support.
We are now ready to launch the next phase of our initiative. You will now see your favorite faces in bright green t-shirts working in flower gardens at intersections across the city. This initiative hopes to achieve the following objectives:
• employ 400 beggars
• restore their dignity and discourage begging
• to assist with access to social workers who will help with rehabilitation.
• To restore pride in our city with beautiful flower gardens.
• To clean up the intersections as the beggars will be employed to clean.
• To attract tourism and thereby encourage economic activity in the city.
• To minimize the presence of the criminal element at intersections such as smash and grabs.
We cannot do this on our own and need the support of you, the public.
We have registered a Non-profit organization known as the Samuels Siza Foundation to facilitate this operation.
Research indicates that most of us donate R5 to beggars at least 4 times per month. This amounts to R20 a month and R240 a year.
For our initiative to be successful all you need to do is to donate less than half of what you ordinarily give. This will enable us to run the project, employ 400 beggars for a year, provide uniforms, tools, skills and pay them R100 per day.
Let’s work together to make our Durban safer and the most caring city.