Celebrate Life SA is an organisation aimed at creating awareness and facilitating support across society to alleviate human and environmental suffering , using the energy of committed individuals, social networks and broadcast platforms.
The essence of Celebrate Life SA lies in respect for the land and its people. A group of caring people, who have known each other and worked together for many years, became inspired to establish a project that not only made use of their individual talents, but also confronted some of the more serious issues facing our planet, with the express purpose of ameliorating as many of these issues as possible.
The initial project in 2005 was to raise One Million Rand for Hospice based in Durban. The aim was to create awareness of Hospice and show it in a different light to the current belief system. A group of twelve women climbed Kilimanjaro and carried out many fund raising projects over the course of a year to achieve this, at the same time, via a range of media reports, raising the profile of Hospice and the work its dedicated staff do.
The second project in 2012 was to raise One Million Rand for The Tusk Trust (of which Prince William is the Royal Patron), to raise awareness and fund their projects to save our rhino from poaching and death. A group of women completed the Lewa half marathon in Kenya. This project garnered media interest and public support as well as the backing of the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks (rugby team) on the project.
As Celebrate Life SA unfolded, it became apparent that the essence of enabling real change in these spheres lies in the group’s ability to motivate and mobilise as many other individuals as possible, to align their goals, and to attract the attention of a global market.
The next project was in October 2014 when a team of ladies climbed Mount Meru in Tanzania (1000m lower than Kilimanjaro) to raise awareness of our heritage and raise funds for our various projects. A total of R370,000 was raised.
In September 2017, a group of 7 ladies paddled across Lake Malawi, 28km in 6.5 hours in hard plastic kayaks to
emphasize women empowerment once again and to highlight the importance of women empowerment in
rural communities. A total or R400,000-00 was raised from corporate sponsors.
The game plan is simple … to:
Gain Respect
Respect is the precursor to loyalty and sustainability. We will tackle problems in our own unique multidisciplinary way. While there is a great deal of discussion and negotiation in arriving at a solution, the honesty with which the decision-making process occurs and the mutual respect that exists between the members, will become a shared resource. We will approach all challenges with honesty, humility and the expertise they deserve.
Summon Support
We aim to continue to build a track record, based on commitment, transparency and results. We are in for the long haul, and, over time, the cumulative nature of the challenges undertaken and the solutions found will earn Celebrate Life SA an even wider support base. A group of diverse, passionate, multinational people living, travelling and problem-solving together in their country is, in essence, a very strong foundation from which to manage an organisation.
Voice
The interactivity of web based social media will allow supporters to become actively involved in the expeditions that the Celebrate Life SA team members embark on. We aim to bring like-minded people together as a united front, to support and protect what they believe in. Community members will be able to develop a sense of responsibility and pro-activity towards the problems faced in our world and on our planet which, we hope, will create a sense of the global village in the psyche of the Celebrate Life SA projects.
Belief – individuals CAN make a difference
With a growing sense of ownership and responsibility, the confidence of Celebrate Life SA, in being actively engaged in the process of change, will grow. Where before, the problems of the world belonged to “others”, community members, by participating in our campaigns and in the various social media activations, will begin to realise their power as individuals, to make a difference. We will remain constantly accessible and transparent to community members, so as to foster the belief that ordinary people, irrespective of class, age, gender or skill set, can help effect change.
Future Community / Conservation Projects for 2017/2018
Bread Making Ovens
Teach a man to fish instead of giving him one… Sustainable project empowering women and children.
There are millions of people who live in the townships with the potential to work hard but can’t find a good job. Some lucky ones do have a job but after taxi fares and long hours they barely bring home enough money to scrape by. Due to the lack of resources for this large portion of our population, the cycle of poverty, lack of education and crime gets passed from one generation to another.
Celebrate Life SA is targeting the problem on a micro scale. What if one woman could bake and sell 30 loaves of bread a day from her home?
Most families eat two loaves per day; this means she would only need 14 families as customers. What if she could make R5 per loaf of bread she sold per day?
What kind of change would she and her family achieve if she was working from home generating a profit of approximately R4000?
Cost of an oven –R30,000-00 inclusive of mentoring and training costs
“One at a time” is how you can help change lives and help build our nation.
Together we can create opportunities and change lives.
There is opportunity for community members to become bakers in their respective neighbourhoods.
Celebrate Life would like to contribute to the rural communities and Feeding schemes in the greater Kwa Zulu Natal area.
HIV and TB Training in the work place
Our involvement is offering courses to Peer groups within the work place on HIV Education to enable them to become peer Educators and empower staff to manage their illness and treatment. Individual Peer Educator training and group training offered by Aids accredited community liaison officer.
Chronic Medical Conditions and widows and children left behind
With our community volunteers, we offer programmes to widows and families left destitute from the death of
a loved one through chronic medical conditions. Widows can be abused in society, sometimes being instructed
to take another husband by the family with no choices of their own. Our aim is to empower them with a
sustainable project like the bread making ovens to earn an income and to teach them their legal rights as
widows. We focus on the families, empowering them to live and manage a sustainable income on their own.
We focus on the youth in empowerment programmes to give them a chance at being successful in society.
Gender Inequality
Lesbian and Gay issues remain an enormous problem in our world due to cultural history, religion and lack of education. Communities need to be trained on gender based equality and learn acceptance in a changing world. We are all just people in a very big picture. Together with our volunteers we are developing programmes to educate the community and once we have reached a level on understanding and acceptance, our aim is to encourage everyone to live together as one people, regardless of gender issues. This would in turn, lead to these current outcasts in society, to help our world by adopting children to help with the orphan crisis in our land. Imagine a world where we are just a “people”!
The Disabled in communities
We have partnered with women empowerment programmes for the disabled in the community, once again assisting with the placement of ovens to enable these people to earn an income and run a sustainable bakery for which there is total accountability.
Projects completed by Celebrate Life:
1. Hospice – R764,000
2. East Coast Radio Helicopter Project – R30,000
3. Thula Thula Rhino Sanctuary – R60,000
4. The Tusk Trust – R580,000
5. Bread Making Ovens placed to date – Cost to date – R420,000-00
- Valley of Thousand Hills x 2
- Alexandra Township x 1
- Diepsloot x1
- Nkobongo Resource Centre x 1
- Vision 153 x 2
- Savannah Park x 2
- Hammersdale x 1
- Sinothando Creche x 1
- Bambayi Creche x 1
- Hospice x 1.
- Ukuzakokusa x 1
All sponsors will be detailed on our website and given the opportunity to supply branded caps and/or T-shirts which will be worn by Celebrate Life SA team members in the community when assisting with projects for media coverage.
Celebrate Life SA is driven by supporting very specific projects in our community.
Cost – unlimited donations to an ongoing project.
You too, can make a difference.
Kind regards,
Cherry Armstrong Founder
+27 824401730
cherry@celebratelifesa.org
