Geza Izandla, a non-profit organisation, was established in 2019 by Rakhee Meyer who decided, after sacrificing many hours doing volunteer work for many different NPOs in Ladysmith and surrounds, to establish and work on an NPO within her own community.
Geza Izandla means ‘wash your hands’ and Meyer said that positive change can only be achieved once your own hands are clean. “Choosing the name, meant for me and those belonging to the organisation, that change must first come within your own home, your own community, before assisting in another community,” said Meyer.
Geza Izandla has almost 50 children from all around Ladysmith and anyone who wants to join the organisation is more than welcome as it has no affiliation to any religion, race or political party. “We get to know the children who join and, through them, the communities they come from and that way we are able to find out the needs of these communities. We do also get requests from individuals asking us for assistance in their areas.”
Geza Izandla is an organisation aiming to assist communities where there is a shortfall, especially with children and their education and well-being.
“We also wish to assist and educate the community about drug and alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, abuse to women and children; in fact, any abuse – be it physical or emotional. We wish to empower our community with skills training and workshops. Assisting them to use their skills and open businesses that will benefit them as well as the town and community.”
Meyer added that they also offer care for the elderly while teaching the community to look after their senior citizens and assisting them where need be. “We educate the community about HIV and gender-based violence. These are the issues that need to be addressed in our communities,” she said.
Meyer explained to The Ladysmith Herald that they are registered with the Department of Social Development and have an NPO certificate. However, the organisation unfortunately does not receive funding and solely relies on the generosity of individuals and businesses within Ladysmith.
Meyer said that her biggest aim is to see improvement within Ladysmith communities and the organisation is important as they are able to service the community on a more personal basis and can reach out to more individuals who may not be able to easily access government assistance.
“Our goals are to get less children dropping out of school by assisting them and their families in making their schooling experience a little less stressful. We want to give our unemployed youth more options rather than being idle and falling into wrongdoings. To do this, we offer them skills training and assist them with finding employment or opening up their own home-based business. We also wish to educate our communities against abuse, GBV and alcohol and drug abuse, thus strengthening the communities. We believe that if we can get the communities to work together, it could make a huge difference.”
Geza Izandla recently organised clean-ups within the community and concentrated on educating residents, youth and children about the importance of keeping Ladysmith clean. Meyer said the organisation’s resources are limited but they still continue to work in areas that need assistance and hope.
“We request donations of food because we try to assist families with hampers as we do not want children to go without food because they cannot concentrate at school if they are hungry. We also have a feeding scheme to make sure that our children have at least one decent meal a day. We are aiming to eventually give our children lunches in the future as we feel that would help them more,” said Meyer, who explained that this is one of her greatest projects that she and her organisation would like to focus on.
The organisation is also on the look-out for stationery and uniforms because every child deserves to go to school with dignity. “It is a challenge to run a non-profit. Our success and daily running depend solely on the generosity of the individuals and businesses in our town. It is a long and stressful task, organising funding to keep us running, but we have faith that people will assist.”
If you wish to volunteer and get involved or if you have anything you wish to donate, contact Rakhee Meyer on 061-910-9155 or 073-356-9114.
“We would like to thank all the businesses and individuals who have been donating and assisting us in keeping this organisation’s doors open and helping us to do the projects we do, successfully. Lastly, I would like to plead with the people of Ladysmith to open up their hearts and wallets if they believe in us and what we are doing in the communities.”
