AGRU Academy Cape Town

How we contribute

AGRU Academy in Cape Town changes the fate of 100 children through education

United Nations
Sustainable Development Goal #4:

Ensure inclusive, equal and high-quality education
and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

The current situation on site

As of October 2024, 97 students are being taught at the AGRU Academy, including 24 school beginners and 26 at high school level. A total of nine teachers are currently employed on a voluntary basis.

The children are also busy practicing with their music and art teacher Cindy for the end-of-year concert in front of parents and guests.

What is needed?

At the moment, the main items missing are blackboards and writing materials. Desks and chairs are also needed.

Urgent modernisation measures are also required (e.g. replacement of toilet seats).

To enable the children to attend school at all, school bus tickets and food are financed. Donations are also urgently needed for this.

Good to know:

1. Die Kinder werden nach einem international anerkannten Lehrplan, dem Cambridge Assessment, unterrichtet.

2. Unser Partner Kinderhilfswerk Eine Welt e. V. (KHW) ist mit einem Spenden-Siegel ausgezeichnet und berechtigt, Spendenquittungen auszustellen.

3. Auf der Website des KHW ist das Spenden ganz einfach –
sowohl einmalig als auch wiederkehrend und unter Verwendung diverser Zahlungsarten.

To the donation page for the AGRU Academy

Why we support the AGRU Academy

In theory, refugee children in South Africa have a right to education. In practice, however, these children must overcome countless hurdles to actually claim this right. School fees or the demand for ID documents close the doors to schools for most refugee children. The consequences are dramatic: children are often stranded in townships and have no chance of a self-determined future. In the worst case, they drift into crime for lack of alternatives. Only education breaks this cycle. The AGRU Academy in Cape Town is part of the effort.

Our common goal: To give children in South Africa a chance for a self-determined future

Under the direction of Tendai Gurumani, about one hundred disadvantaged children between the ages of 5 and 18 receive a quality education here. Tendai herself emigrated from Zimbabwe to South Africa. In 2017, she began teaching a homeless Angolan girl at a train station in Cape Town. More and more children joined her classes. She used bars or fast-food restaurants as makeshift classrooms. Then she decided to found a school: the AGRU Academy.

However, the school can barely stay afloat without outside help, lacking even the most basic necessities. The teachers are all volunteers.

Classes are based on an internationally recognized curriculum, Cambridge Assessment International Education, and include both primary and lower secondary levels. The teachers, also IDPs, are all volunteers. No admission fees or tuition are charged.

The motto of the AGRU Academy:
“Knowledge is Power”

I want more children to have access to education
and for us to significantly improve the quality of education locally.
Together, we can make a difference.

Christopher Spall

However, money alone will not solve the problems in Africa. The aim is to establish structures and give the people involved on the ground the tools they need to develop independently. Since then, Spall Brand Identity Consulting has supported the school not only through monetary donations, but also with its many years of knowledge as an organisational consultancy.

Let’s make a real difference together and give 100 children a perspective for the future! Every Euro counts!

Christopher Spall

There are many ways in which we can help now:

With 9 Euro we can buy a new textbook, with 90 Euro we can equip an entire class with new learning materials.
With 25 Euro we can buy a school desk.
With 25 Euro, we finance a meal at school for a child for a month.
With 700 Euro, we enable a class to learn on the computer.
With 30 Euro we pay for a monthly ticket with which a child can travel to school every day, with 2,000 Euro we ensure transportation for all children for a whole month.

To the donation page for the AGRU Academy

3 good reasons to support the AGRU Academy:

Meaning: Education is the key to Africa’s future, so that young people do not look for meaning in crime and violence.
Effect: Every Euro goes directly to the school. There are no costs for administration. All those involved work on a voluntary basis.
Transparency: Strategy, implementation measures and investments are published online.

Chronicle of our commitment to AGRU

May 2022

August 2021

Our fears have been confirmed: The AGRU Academy unfortunately had to move out of the school building we found only at the end of last year. Due to the ongoing lockdown, we have been unable to raise sufficient funds to cover the outstanding rent payments. But Tendai is not giving up and has already found a new location. Currently, classes are held in a large hall (about 100 square meters) in Midland. The classes are all taught together at the same time in this one large room. Since there is no room separation of any kind, chairs serve to separate the “classrooms.”

The new rent is 5,000 rand per month (300 euros).

In addition, Tendai has taken in an orphan child who needs special help during the pandemic.

The churches are closed for the most part. The ones that are open are only allowed 50 people. This makes it difficult to collect donations through the churches.

Currently, only 46 students are still being taught. The rest of the children were distributed to other schools as far as possible. There are currently, besides Tendai, only five teachers left. The others had to find paid work to support their families.

98 out of 100 AGRU students passed the annual tests

Despite all the difficulties during the pandemic, only two out of 100 children did not make it to the next grade. This shows that we are on the right track and that our commitment and donations are bearing fruit. But Tenai herself said that it was also the mental support and encouragement from the donors that helped her through the difficult time, and without this sense of community, she would have given up long ago.

Education is also a weapon in the fight against Corona

Corona vaccination is progressing extremely slowly in South Africa. Due to the low level of education in large parts of the population, many people are sceptical about the vaccines that are probably readily available by now. Social media feeds these fears. People’s mindset, surprisingly, seems to be the bigger problem.

Especially against this background, it is all the more important to support institutions like the AGRU Academy. Only better education for the children will improve the future of the people and the country.

It is not clear at this time how long the lockdown will last. The building where classes are currently held on a makeshift basis is only a stopgap solution. The old school building has not yet been sublet. But that requires substantial funding….

In the short term, we are tackling the problems pragmatically: What is urgently needed now is a mobile Paravent solution to somehow make lessons possible for the remaining children.

Your donation of only 1,50 Euro makes a lesson for disadvantaged children possible.

Here you can easily donate – both one-time and recurring and using various payment methods. A donation receipt is available through our partner Kinderhilfswerk Dritte Welt e. V..

Please support our commitment to AGRU – every Euro counts!

June 2021

In South Africa, the delta mutation of the coronavirus is raging. Since no vaccines are available, practically no vaccinations take place. More people are becoming infected every day. It is feared that even those who have already recovered from a beta infection are now no longer safe. The government has decided on a new lockdown.

After AGRU Academy resumed its second semester on May 1, 2021, the school must close again beginning Wednesday, June 30.

A severe setback for the AGRU Academy. This is where the exams of the graduating classes should actually take place now – milestone on the children’s way to an independent life.

The number of our students has decreased to 86, mainly due to the lack of money for transportation and lack of food in their households.

Currently we have one class with five students from five to six years old and seven classes with a total of 41 students from seven to thirteen years old. Another 40 students aged 14 to 17 are spread across four classes.

Principal Tendai Gurumani and her team report that the lack books and workbooks – essential materials for learning at home. Only a few students have access to smartphones or laptops, and technical equipment is generally inadequate. Homeschooling as we know it is therefore not an option.

Earmarked donations are well received: In March 2020, we were able to purchase many new books thanks to a large individual donation.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to provide an educational programme for disadvantaged children. The already dire economic situation will worsen as local donations decline during the lockdown. Will we be able to hold on to the school building we just moved into?

More than ever, the children and the school are in need of our help. Together with our partner, the children’s charity Dritte Welt e. V., we ask for support for this valuable school project.

For 25 Euros we can purchase a school table so that the distance rules can be observed according to the hygiene regulations.
30 Euros is the price of a monthly ticket that allows a child to travel to school every day.
45 Euro per month allow a child to have a warm school meal a day.

February 2021

Together with our partner, the children’s charity Dritte Welt e. V., we were able to transfer 1,028.62 Euros to the AGRU Academy at the end of last year. On the one hand, the money was used to pay the outstanding rental deposit for the new school building. Second, individual tables were purchased to meet government sanitation and distance requirements.

The AGRU Academy is open again since February 1.

However, school operations are off to a slow start. Few parents can bring their children to school. Due to the current circumstances, many parents are not working or have completely lost their jobs due to the catastrophic economic situation in South Africa. The use of completely overcrowded public transportation is a danger, if families can afford it at all. The school is located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province, where a particularly aggressive mutation of the Corona virus is currently spreading extremely rapidly.

Lessons in the school take place even if there are only a few students in the classes. The school’s principal, Tendai Gurumani, and her team also provide materials for home learning that children can access – as long as they have access to a family member’s cell phone. There is a lack of technical equipment in most families, which means that regular online lessons cannot take place.

Whether it’s furniture for Corona-safe school equipment or student tickets to get to school, there are many ways we can help now to help children stay in school during this difficult time.

We want the children to be able to continue on the path to a self-determined future. Support us in this – every Euro counts!

>>> Donate here for the AGRU Academy

(Donation receipt available through our partnerKinderhilfswerk Dritte Welt e.V.)

October 2020

The pandemic hits the poorest especially hard – let’s help where our help is needed most

The Corona crisis has greatly increased the willingness to support local aid projects. Unfortunately, this means that where the effects of the pandemic are most severe, hardly any donations (e.g. from local churches) arrive. Let us now think of the people who need us most.

South Africa is currently experiencing devastating effects of the Corona crisis. The country was already in recession before the Corona crisis broke out. Now poverty has risen dramatically in just a few weeks. The AGRU Academy in Cape Town offers new prosepcts for disadvantaged children between the ages of 5 and 18. Here, about one hundred refugee children receive a quality education under the guidance of Tendai Gurumani. The school is mainly financed by private donations and collections from local churches, which unfortunately are almost completely absent due to the Corona pandemic.

A real school for refugee children

Right now, there is a ray of hope: the school has found a suitable building that can become a real home. Unlike the previous barracks, this is a real school building with classrooms, schoolyard, a kitchen and toilets. This is a dream come true for the school family – but it stands on shaky ground: The financing has not been clarified.

For deposit, equipment and the further rent payments we urgently need support in the amount of 4,000 EUR!

AGRU Academy in Cape Town changes the fate of 100 children through education