The Mustadafin Foundation was established in 1986. It emerged during the Apartheid era in response to political unrest and violence that erupted due to faction fighting in Langa, which had devastating effects on the local communities, particularly women and children.
What is the Mustadafin Foundation?
Mustadafin Foundation is a Non-Profit Organisation that works across the Western Cape to uplift destitute communities. Through education, feeding schemes, health care programs, youth interventions and skills development, we empower impoverished people to reach self-sufficiency, self-reliance and independence. We encourage every person to participate in the development of our broader community, standing for dignity for all people.
Our History
Mustadafin Foundation was established in 1986 in response to political unrest and violence in Crossroads, Cape Town which had a devastating effect on the local community, particularly women and children. A group of concerned friends started to provide services such as accommodation, food and clothing, medical care and trauma counseling.
Its growth has been outstanding because of the dedication and support from the Muslim community.
From inception, the Mustadafin Foundation has been successfully involved in supporting development in townships and has extended its services beyond the borders of the Cape whenever Disaster has struck.
Our core functions
Mustadafin sees itself as a servant of the communities in which it operates and bases its core functions on the needs of the oppressed.
Education
Poverty eradication
Health
Community development
Disaster Relief
Aims and Objectives
While most of us are breathing a sigh of relief following the end of the recent taxi strike, there are many citizens that are battling to recover from the financial loss as a result of not being able to work for many days.
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Pictured from left to right: Margaret Thomas, Deborah Bosse and Junaid Tonkin received food supplies from Mustadafin Foundation to support their community feeding scheme in Hangberg.
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Many of us are doing our best to lap up the last bits of sunshine as we can feel the evening chills getting more prominent.
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“I was beaten into a pulp by my drunk husband. I sat in silence for years because I was scared he’d leave us.”
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The Mustadafin Foundation spent Mandela Day in Grabouw at the Thusong Hall, distributing essential items, like food parcels, clothing and warm blankets to the local community who are recovering from the recent fires.
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Bikers For Change is a group of biker friends who have decided to travel 92, 200km on motorbikes from Cape Town, South Africa to Zanzibar, Victoria Falls and Tanzania, with the objective to raise funds towards Mustadafin’s Feed a belly.
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Mustadafin Foundation would want to bring about hope to people during the blessed month of Ramadhaan.
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Malnutrition impacts a child’s development and impairs their ability to give their attention to their schoolwork.
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Mustadafin Foundation appeals for the destitute communities. As a nation, we share in the anxiety and stress as many are about to lose their jobs and businesses are about to close due to the Covid-19 Pandemic – how will many survive financially?
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For many parents, sending their children to school puts them under considerable financial strain. “At Mustadafin Foundation we understand the financial pressure that parents are faced with in our communities.
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Mustadafin Foundation are calling on seamstresses who are willing to volunteer to help make masks for schools in rural areas.
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Touws River, an inland town about 200kms outside of Cape Town, is one of the communities hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.
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Mustadafin Foundation in partnership with the Delft community, hosted a mass cooking initiative, inviting different soup kitchens from the area to hand out hot meals within the communities.
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Mustadafin Foundation is a 35-year-old organisation that supports and encourage the empowerment of women. With a 95% female staff compliment and led by a female director Ghairunisa Johnstone-Cassiem, Mustadafin’s......
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The Mustadafin Foundation in partnership with several community-based organisations and public services are planning a combined 16 Days of Activism Campaign for standing up to violence against women and children.
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Education:
We ambitiously run four Early Childhood Development Centres in underprivileged areas to raise the level of the destitute so that they can mature into self-sufficiency.
Madrasa:
We run three Jamatu Khanas to improve the spiritual self-sufficiency in the communities and to promote Islamic integrity in conjunction with tolerance with others. We are especially active during Ramadan with feeding, prayers, thikr and running various ‘deen’ programmes.
Adult Literacy:
Through this programme we cater to people who have been previously deprived of their right to basic education and return that entitled power to them. Through this process they can find entry-level work and they can manage basic issues in their lives like paying the bills and helping their children with home-work. This has been extremely successful with the women who are so proud of being able to write their own names.
Youth Development:
Our Youth Development runs programs to empower the youth and motivate them in their future aspirations. Counselling and tutoring is also provided thus encouraging both empathy and discipline in the youth. On Youth Day the 16th of June our youth do a variety of activities for their communities while honouring the memory of youth who protested and lost their lives in the struggle against Apartheid.
Skills Training
Our ‘Stitch by Stitch’ program in Tafelsig teaches women from the area skills that they can use to create business for themselves, find work or save money in making clothes for their families. This program is used especially to assist women recovering and escaping abusive relationships.
Isibindi Project
In conjunction with NACCW, we employ local people in Tafelsig to assist youth/child headed households in a parental capacity like house hold cleaning, meals, home-work and clothing. They offer emotional support, mentoring and are there for the recipients when it comes to school functions, meetings and help with shopping and bills.
Health Programs
Our home-based care workers attend to the frail, disabled and sick in areas like Mitchells Plain and Delft. They offer bed-baths, physiotherapy, counselling, massages and attend to wounds. They offer great relief to clients and their families who would otherwise find it unaffordable to receive such extra treatment else-where.
Disaster Relief
Our Disaster Team is kept busy responding to requests from Disaster Management and the community by distributing cooked food, blankets, clothes, winter packs and baby packs. We often respond to disasters both natural and man-made like floods, fires and unrest.
Feeding and Distribution
We feed 15000 people daily with hot meals and distribute blankets every winter in addition to clothing, winter packs and baby packs. We also supply stationery packs and run a gel-stove campaign in addition to many items demanded by the community.