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Friends of Grahamstown and District Development ('FOGADD') is a UK registered charity (no. 1093339) dedicated to education and welfare in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.
Over a decade after the end of apartheid, the townships of South Africa remain sites of profound social distress. In the Grahamstown area less than one in three people are in employment, a quarter of the population is HIV positive and one in ten people is the victim of a serious crime every year. FOGADD is a UK charity which believes that this situation is not hopeless, and that, with the right kind of support, Grahamstown’s young people can build a better world for themselves. FOGADD funds carefully selected projects and monitors their progress to ensure maximum benefits with minimum administrative costs. Some of our projects are described below.
Scholarships for talented pupils
 Pictured above some of FOGADD's scholars Grahamstown Primary is a dual medium school (Afrikaans and English) which caters for 320 pupils aged 7-13 with 8 teachers. Its intake is predominantly Afrikaans speaking coloured children with a 30% Xhosa component. School fees are about £5 a year but many parents struggle to pay this. Most of the pupils qualify for the school’s feeding scheme, which may provide their only meal of the day. Despite their disadvantages, some pupils from Grahamstown Primary go on to high achievement. One former pupil represented SA at under 15 cricket in the World Cup in England in 2001. Fees for the most academic government high schools in Grahamstown are Rand 6000+ per year (around £500).
FOGADD’s commitment is to award two scholarships per annum to pupils leaving this school funding them through their secondary education at Graeme College (Boys), Victoria Girls High or PJ Olivier. Currently we have thirteen scholars and the first of these is hoping to attend university next year.
FOGADD is also committed to funding two gifted children per year to start at one of the best primary schools in Grahamstown and move on to Graeme College or Victoria Girls High. They have been identified with the help of GADRA (a local charity) from pre-primary schools in Grahamstown and we have four of these scholars.
Support through local charities
There are some excellent, long-established, local charities in Grahamstown which FOGADD supports.
The Centre for Social Development at Rhodes University (CSD) runs a variety of programmes in social development including: · Multipurpose centres for pre-school education, but also serving the wider local population. More than 1,000 children per day are fed through these centres · Early childhood development & nutrition programmes · Aids awareness · Governance training
CSD's website is www.ru.ac.za/csd/
£5 monthly provides a daily meal for one child
Grahamstown Area Distress Relief Association (GADRA) focuses on education at all ages, including: · Matric school to help able but disadvantaged students reach university · Commercial Centre providing training in office skills · Bursaries for a range of higher education institutions · Educational visits for impoverished children who never otherwise travel outside city limits · Adult education in computer literacy and bookkeeping · Day care centre outreach including feeding, education and child care
£20 monthly provides a bursary for a student at the commercial centre £10 monthly provides a bursary for a student at the matric school
Grahamstown Child and Family Welfare (CFW) employs several social workers to provide social services to local children such as: · Organising fostering of orphaned or abused children · Aids awareness education institutions · Working with families to reduce abuse and neglect
FOGADD pays £200 per month towards the salaries of social workers Mobile biology laboratory project
Most high schools in Grahamstown have no laboratories or equipment to run practicals, yet such work is fundamental to a student’s understanding of theory and is now compulsory for final year students. This mobile laboratory now reaches all these schools. Two experienced teachers run it at the request of high school teachers, ultimately empowering them to run the practicals on their own.  FOGADD has supported the costs of re-engineering a suitable vehicle provided by Volkswagen SA and is now contributing to the running costs.
The cost of one lab assistant for this project is approximately £200 per month.
Siyazama pre-school project
FOGADD supported the construction of a new building for a pre-school in Grahamstown to replace their current accommodation which includes shipping containers. In addition, we are helping to pay staff costs such as a cook who provides nutritious meal for the children.
FOGADD is providing £2,000 per annum towards costs
St Mary’s day care centre
St Mary’s day care centre, established in 1982 provides care and food for 90 of the poorest school children in Grahamstown. These children continue to live at home but have meals at St Mary’s which also provides organised activities, school uniforms, and supervises homework.
FOGADD is matching local funding for a new service with a youth worker supervising organised afternoon activities
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