Young entrepreneur, Ali Adan from Kiamaiko in Nairobi, Kenya has found great success since completing the Business Courses offered by CAST in 2018. At just twenty years of age, he had already established his own butchery selling goat meat, earning up to 500 Kenyan Shillings (R62,50) a day, but admits that he would spend his money carelessly, without proper budgeting or financial planning. “As the day ended I could not account for the money,” he says. “I had [...]
Themba Dlamini, one of the great success stories to emerge out of CAST's business development programme, has taken his car-wash business to the next level. With dreams of expansion, Themba set out with a mission to purchase a container for his business. This would allow him to have a spaza shop running alongside his carwash so that while customers were waiting, they could hang out, purchase food and drinks and socialise with one another. Last weekend, the passionate [...]
On Tuesday, the 24th September, 100 members of Westville Baptist Church along with 120 members of the Kwadabeka community, came together in a beautiful portrayal of Heritage Day. An initiative powered by CAST- a social outreach non-profit- and Westville Baptist, “Brighten up Kwadabeka” was a day aimed at painting, fixing, cleaning and repairing Sithokozile Secondary School, handing out food parcels and making home visits to the food parcel recipients of the community, and running a children’s programme [...]
Many of you may have seen our new slogan floating around the social media realms and wondered what the inspiration behind it is. "Move Beyond Charity" is our way of expressing what the core beliefs behind our organisation are. We believe that extreme poverty can end, that mindsets can be changed, and that love is a necessity. We believe that changing the world requires more than just a handout, more than just charity; it requires action.... it requires [...]
It’s a one night commitment a week...but it could change a life for eternity. About one and a half years ago, the CAST Street Ministry Team met a man named Johan at one of their weekly visits to The Nest shelter in Durban Central. Many of the team warmed to Johan’s friendly nature and dry sense of humour and over time he became a good friend to the team. He had not had contact with his family for [...]
The electricity in the township is out again. The residents cannot cook food for themselves or for their families and the nearest store is a decent walk away. Besides, walking in the dark of the night is never the safest option for anybody. Nokuthula Ngcopo was tired of seeing this incident happen over and over again. This was a community she was born into and had grown up to love and so she came up with a business [...]
Imagine getting a group of teenagers excited about having to pick up litter in their community for an entire afternoon. Schools and parents have been trying for years to make kids litter-conscious and, most of the time, their efforts are in vain. But, CAST’s area coordinator in Lamontville decided that he was going to tackle this task and rally up the troops from the Lamontville Baptist youth group to clean up an area of the community. “I wanted [...]
( IMAGE BY RICHARD BOLLAND) When it comes to loving the poor, I feel that I, along with many other Christians still have not got it right. Actually, we suck. Raise your hand if you feel good when you give some spare change to the boy who comes up to your car window at the intersection. I know I do. This is because I have learned to become satisfied with those "saintly" actions, they have become enough for [...]
A few photos of the CAST basketball team from KwaDabeka, The Clan. Read about their recent success here.
Armed with a box full of paint, a giant sheet of metal, a pair of scissors and some red ribbon; the CAST staff made their way to the community of KwaDabeka. Once a month, our staff has what we call, “CAST SUNDAY”. This is a day when we head out to one of the four communities that we partner with and we join the church in that community for their Sunday service. This is a way of unifying [...]
