Cape Town Accommodation Ambassador Hotel Sustainability

This accommodation provider has taken action to address one or more issues (whether environmental, social or cultural) which will contribute positively to the long term viability of the destination and hence their site displays a Caring for the destination rating.

Main area of focus in Caring for the Destination:  

Supporting a non-profit organisation - The Amy Biehl Foundation. A percentage of all hotel accommodation is donated to the Amy Biehl Foundation

Detailed description of the Caring for the Destination Initiative: 

The Amy Biehl Foundation is a non-profit organisation, based in Cape Town, whose programmes are designed to develop and empower 5-18 year old youth in the impoverished townships, contribute to community building efforts, give children hope and a brighter future and alleviate HIV Aids, poverty, gangs, violence and crime. This is achieved by providing educational and cultural activities that offer students healthy alternatives to idleness and all the negative influences in the townships and unlocks their creative talent with the aim of giving them opportunities to become future leaders, entrepreneurs and well rounded citizens in a global society. The programmes reach over 1,500 children every week, and include:

 

• After School Care
• Music, Including Violin, Guitar, Recorder, Marimba, Choral Singing and Brass
• HIV / AIDS Peer Education
• Greening and Environment
• Youth Reading Role Models
• Creative Arts, Including, Pottery, Beading, Drama & Dance – Kwaito,
• Modern, Traditional and Ballet
• Sports include: soccer, hockey, surfing, swimming, diving, cricket & the only Golf Driving Range in a township
• Computer Literacy
• Prison Outreach
• School holiday camps

 

These programmes place a focus on the creative side of the children’s brain, and supplements the shortcomings of the educational system in the townships. There are great inadequacies in the impoverished township schools in which we work, creating a great need for our programmes. Every year the Western Cape has an influx of up to 80,000 people from the rest of South Africa and Africa and this influx creates huge pressures on the Province’s already thin resources and infrastructure. Through our programmes, we allow the children to supplement what they learn during the course of the school day with creative programmes that let them express themselves and think freely in an imaginative environment. Providing these students with meaningful opportunities helps to grow the economy moving forward, as the next generation will be better equipped to deal with the challenges of tomorrow.

Benefit to the children:

 

• Helping reduce the alarming rate of high school students dropping out of school
• Giving children an alternative to a life of poverty, HIV Aids, gangs, crime & violence. By participating in our programmes, the youth are better equipped to ward off the temptations of drugs, gangs, violence and unsafe sex.
• Providing a beacon of hope for disadvantaged youths, and creating a future healthy society of emotionally equipped and well-rounded individuals.
• Enabling South African youth to reach their full potential, regardless of their current economic standing.
• Helping students develop life skills that will carry them forward as the future leaders and entrepreneurs of our society.