Malayeka Empowerment Fund

Malayeka Charity Empowerment Centre serves the community of Cerrito de la Virgen. The centre offers after school programs for children from 3-15 years old on subjects such as environmental awareness, cultural awareness, english, arts and crafts. The centre also provides a safe space for the women of the community to learn different trades, rediscover their self-worth, and attend education classes such as literacy and English.

The Malayeka Charity Empowerment Centre has needs to facilitate the growth of the program. With a steady plan to move forward, we are discovering ways to create a sustainable program. We have come up with a detailed assessment of how we can instantly make an improvement to the existing infrastructure.


Water is the first stepping stone, it is an easy goal to fulfill and gives the community an immediate resource they desperately need. A source of water will instantly provide the centre with working toilets, showers, sinks, and paired with a filtration system, drinking water. The only access most families currently have is to a truck that delivers water once a week to the street corner. They wait there with buckets to collect what they can and bring it home and this must last them until the truck returns again. Not only is this extremely inefficient, but the water being delivered is dirty and should not ever be consumed. The centre currently buys its water in 20 L jugs. This is temporary, wasteful and not cost effective. To resolve these issues a sustainable source of water is required.

By installing a water tank directly under the centre we can make it accessible and clean. It will lower the costs by a huge margin and provide a safe source for the community. It also has the potential to be expanded to pump water directly to the homes within the community. Not only becoming a resource for the centre but also all surrounding families. Clean water will be an instant improvement to the quality of everyone's life while expanding the channels of possibility for any future goals.


The next step, is to beautify the landscape of the centre. It is an amazing space with unlimited potential. We would like it to become a place the families feel is their own. The mothers and children will be an important part of the designing and construction process. By working hand-in-hand with the mothers and children of the community, we hope to emphasize the values of collaboration, cooperation, teamwork, and confidence. Most importantly once finished, they can be proud of what they accomplished together.


Beautification also gives opportunity to learn more about being environmentally conscience. We use as much recyclable material as possible when constructing the centre and will continue to. This keeps the costs low and also teaches the value of recycling. Using eco-friendly material is another important value the centre holds to keep our footprint light and in still the same values within the community.

Once the project is finished, it is not just about beautification. By creating a beautiful and inspired space it allows the community to understand they are worthy of something beautiful. They are worth the time, the effort, and the hard work from other people, but more importantly themselves.


Our number one priority is creating sustainability. The challenge lies in changing a charitable donation into something that will last. It is not as simple as buying more material things for the people of the community. Our goals are designed to enhance the lives of Cerrito de la Virgen. With first, a reliable source of water, followed by a revamped learning space. We have taken the time to see that these ideas will build a lasting foundation for years to come.

Spanish

Malayeka Charity es un centro de empoderamiento que trabaja con la comunidad del Cerrito de la Virgen. El centro ofrece programas extra escolares a niños y niñas de 3 a 15 años, en concienciación medioambiental y cultural, inglés y manualidades. El centro también ofrece un espacio seguro para las mujeres de la comunidad donde aprender a realizar artesanías, redescubrir su valía y asistir a clases educativas de alfabetización e Inglés.

Malayeka Charity quiere seguir creciendo con su programa. Poco a poco estamos descubriendo nuevas formas de crear un programa sostenible. Por ello, hemos recibido una detallada evaluación de como podemos realizar una mejora instantanea en la infraestructura existente.

Tener agua es el primer paso para realizarlo. Proveer al centro de agua significa tener baños, duchas y a la vez un sistema de filtrado para tener agua potable. El acceso al agua en el Cerrito es complicado, pues el único recurso existente es un camión que lleva el agua dos veces por semana. Para que este problema sea resuelto, la única solución es tener un sistema de agua sostenible.

Instalando un tanque de agua en el centro tendremos instantaneamente agua limpia y accesible. Esto será un recurso seguro y rápido para las familias, que mejorará su calidad de vida y ayudará a la realización de proyectos futuros.