Amanda Blankfield

Contact information: phone: 27.11.325.5914; e-mail: amanda@maafrikatikkun.org.za

Organization: MaAfrika Tikkun was created in 1994.

Organization’s biography: MaAfrika Tikkun was founded by Dr. Bertie Lubner and the late Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris to help people who were disadvantaged by the apartheid regime. With former President Nelson Mandela as its Patron-in-Chief, MaAfrika Tikkun is a non-governmental organization that focuses on the sustainable transformation of communities. MaAfrika Tikkun’s goal is to improve the lives of South Africa’s children by employing a holistic approach to poverty alleviation, which begins in early childhood and continues through young adulthood, ultimately empowering people to develop into valuable, contributing members of society.

MaAfrika Tikkun operates in Gauteng (Alexandra, Diepsloot, Hillbrow and Orange Farm) and the Western Cape (Delft and Mfuleni), providing services such as early childhood and youth development, primary health care, feeding, and emergency services.

Mott grants through 2009: Two grants totaling $240,000 since 2008.

What MaAfrika Tikkun is doing during the World Cup: We are taking the spirit of the World Cup to several of South Africa’s most impoverished communities by distributing 21,000 soccer shirts (donated by Altitude Leisure Ware) in Alexandra township, Diepsloot, Orange Farm, Hillbrow, Delft and Mfuleni. All the shirts carry the phrase, “Viva South Africa, Viva!”

My most meaningful place in South Africa: It is difficult to choose, but Diepsloot, Alexandra and Orange Farm hold a special place in my heart because it is there that miracles – as our patron-in-chief, Nelson Mandela, calls them – occur. A child is fed, a teenager discovers a special talent for art, an unemployed woman becomes part of a learnership that helps her seek employment.

Organization contact info:

57 6th Rd.
Hyde Park 2196
Johannesburg, South Africa

Phone: 27.11.325.5914
E-mail: amanda@maafrikatikkun.org.za
Web site: www.maafrikatikkun.org.za