Personal development project

We have a BIG vision, with a community-driven, long-term approach that will support and empower young South African women, who may be in vulnerable situations, to find strength, build life skills and be self-sufficient leaders in their own lives and in society.

Why is this needed?

According to a study by UNICEF South Africa in 2020:

• Children aged 5 - 12 years have the highest multidimensional poverty rate (63.4%)!
• Children aged 13 - 17 years have a poverty rate of 62.5%!
• Half are not employed or studying by the time they reach 25.

On top of huge poverty rates amongst South Africa’s young people, the quality of education is poor, contributing to learning challenges and poor earning potential.

Three out of five South Africans are under the age of 30. Now is the time to plant the seeds and support this next generation to build a brighter future.

Young women and girls also experience extremely high levels of gender-based and intimate partner violence. Girls in particular are falling prey to predators and are not taught values, are abused and now girls as young as 10yrs old are falling pregnant.

Mentoring World will address this by:

• Teaching important life skills
• Providing community and a safe space to turn their life around
• Building the foundations these young people need to be self-sufficient adults in the world
• Teaching entrepreneurship and trades to empower them to earn their own money
• Creating the right mindsets in these young people to succeed

Rolling it out:

We'll be starting with Tween-agers (aged 9-12) to begin with, where we feel we can have the biggest impact initially and where the foundations for adulthood are built, eventually supporting:

• Tween-agers
• Teenagers
• Young adults
• Abuse victims

Who's behind this?

Mentoring World is the brain child of Abigail Swarts.

"My name is Abigail, I am a youth mentor and personal development facilitator.

I do mentoring workshops with tweens and teens in my disadvantaged community. At this stage I can only accommodate 10 girls and do workshops with them once a week for 4-6 months.

I would love to do this on a much bigger scale and accommodate more girls.

Due to social economic issues our children become victims of abuse, teenage pregnancies, drug abuse, molestation, prostitution and so many more challenges hence I started this program.

I would herby like to ask for assistance to help me build a bigger and better project to accommodate many more children.

I know and have seen this work because so many of the teachers, parents and family members give positive feedback on the progress and personal changes of the current girls.

I am asking for assistance to develop our children further. Our local community schools only cater for their academic needs. We would love to play a role in their individual identity and holistic development.

Thank you in advance!"