The club provides a safe-space away from the harsh realities of ghetto life, a place where all are welcome, surfboards & wetsuits are FREELY available, plus a shower and a meal. Its also a sense of community, of belonging, and we push the kids to improve their surfing as a healthy alternative lifestyle, to enter local competitions, to train as surf coaches, and ultimately to find positive outcomes in often hopeless situations. Surfing is a pathway to a brighter future.
The club is run by a handful of local volunteers and the members themselves, nobody gets paid, its all done for the love and care for the future generations. There is no government funding, and even just the rent of the clubhouse and food supplies is an ongoing challenge to meet each month.
The Small Things Foundation oversees the Local Surf Lounge Academy to help find sustainable solutions to keeping the doors open, and improving what we can offer to the community. Together with private supporters, we are constantly seeking partners locally & abroad to help us mmeet our challenges and continue to thrive. These kids deserve it!
The big reason for this campaign, is that all our young surfers (from as young as 8 years old) walk up to 5km each way from their homes on the Cape Flats to reach the Local Surf Lounge Academy. On this walk they have to run a dangerous gauntlet past gangsters, drug addicts and opportunistic robbers, all willing to prey on vulnerable kids.
THIS IS WHERE WE NEED YOUR HELP! We desperately need a mini-bus to help collect and drop off the kids safely from their home communities. Keeping them safe, and stoked!
Having our own transport also allows us to take the older surfers to train at different beaches other than Muizenberg, which benefits them greatly in their competitive surfing by gaining experience at a variety of waves.
After working in both Switzerland & South Africa it became obvious people earn vastly different amounts for doing the same work, yet the cost of living is not equally less. Some places have social support, healthcare, others do not. On a human-level, this is hugely unfair. It also became clear that most fortunate people wish to help those less fortunate, but just don’t know how. We decided to do something & find ways to channel help from one side to the other, in small ways that make a big impact.
Monthly Supporters
Donations Received
Funds Raised
Skills Workshops
We can each do more, to fix the problems we see in our world
Most people want to help, but find it hard to make time or decide how to
Our work is disruptive, accountable and people driven