This web site summarises the work of a small charity that provides free tuition lessons for schoolchildren in the area of Knysna, Republic of South Africa.

Charity number 1031 officially registered in the Isle of Man. Please see this PDF for registration details.

Principles

• Helping poor children: South Africa - and the Knysna area in particular - has seen substantial economic growth in the last 5 years. However there is still wide income disparity and genuine need in terms of what some children can afford in terms of education.
• Focus on tuition: No charitable effort can be all things to all people. We focus only on extra tuition lessons - over and above any regular schooling.
• Zero administrative overhead: There is no diversion of funds to pay for administration of the charity. Those who help with organisation give their time for free.
• Free at the point of need: There is no charge to the schoolchildren who attend the lessons.
• Teachers remuneration: Teachers who provide the lessons are paid in full for their time - at a rate that matches their best alternative e.g. hourly rates for private tuition to richer children.
• Teaching materials: Reasonable expenses associated with tuition (stationery, calculators etc.) are covered in full.
• Trust: Teachers are not expected to go out of pocket for their work. They receive cash advances from the bank account set up in Knysna. The balance on this account typically never exceeds US$1000-US$2000. Sponsors top up the account as required.
• Accountability: Teachers are asked to keep simple records of expenditure. This is not intended to be demanding - we want them teaching, not doing bureaucratic chores. However sponsors have to be reasonably satisfied that the money is well spent.
• Small scale: We believe 'small is beautiful' and giving money in this way provides excellent direct benefit where it is really needed. Not much money goes a very long way.

Practice

At this time the charity suports just one Mathematics teacher - Michael Dragner. Michael is 50 years old, completed a four-year Teacher's Diploma after secondary schooling and has lived in Knysna all his life. He has a full-time position teaching Mathematics at Bay College, Plettenberg Bay. He is keen to give something back in his personal time to children who can not afford their own private tuition.

Financial records

More details of our simple record-keeping here.

Help

If you would like more details on the work of this charity, please contact me (Frank Vipond) via email. More about me personally at www.frankvipond.com and my company at www.prosperoassociates.com. I am currently the major sponsor.

Links

It can be difficult to find a charity in Africa to support. You can search for a charity in Africa on the Internet, but please be aware that charities may have to pay to appear in a directory of charities or to raise their ranking in search results. We choose not to spend money in this way. If we appear in lists of charitable organisations for free, we do offer reciprocal links from their web site to ours.

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