The Bursary Programme

We wished to use some of our funds to uplift people displaced from the Newlands area during the apartheid years. Many of these people and their children now live in the Manenberg area on the Cape Flats , where socio-economic conditions are very poor, and gangs, violence, alcoholism and drug addiction are common. The youth in these areas are at risk, and few have the opportunities to study or make something of their lives.

St Andrew's formed a partnership with the Church of the Reconciliation in Manenberg and TECSAT. The aim of this was to work together in providing bursaries to selected young people from the Manenberg community, enabling them to study at an FET college and later find work. Eight students are now sponsored and have started studying. St Andrew's has also linked the students with voluntary mentors from within the parish, who have expertise in the various fields in which the students are studying. They will encourage and advise the students, and where possible, offer them opportunities to work-shadow and get an idea of what to expect once they are qualified.

TECSAT's website