GT Treasured Lives Foundation is a Non-Profit Company (NPC), duly registered in terms of the laws of South Africa in 2011, although its work was started in 2004 when we would visit schools to motivate learners and teachers, visit orphanages to give with time and resources, and visit communities to help impact and empower the people including in our neighbouring country, Botswana. The idea was very people centric- to go around and help people to know better, do better and achieve better in life. It was then that through many sad situations, a huge need for empowerment was realised and the passion kept burning even more.
With more passion, search for purpose and finally finding it, GT Treasured Lives Foundation was born. Since then, the company has been reaching more and more learners, students and youth through coaching, mentorship program, empowerment sessions, community development and linking youths to opportunities like internships, bursaries, learnerships and jobs to better their lives.
GT Treasured Lives Foundation is a wholly education, youth, and women empowerment entity that focuses on transforming lives whilst ensuring that the family unit remains intact. We also focus on strategic projects where companies share their vision and goals, and we implement projects on their behalf. Our 5 strategic pillars are education, youth, women, technology, and strategic projects. The company has wealth of relationships and skills including legal, technology, project management, finance, actuary, and business.
The passion and impact of the foundation is evident, even through the pioneer and leader, Treasure. She amongst other things ran a corporate giving back programme for Africa at Ernst & Young in 2015 and 2016, This included taking care of company’s giving back programs throughout Africa, over 160 girls nationally (SA), including mentorship, tuition, bursaries, and additional 20 schools in Gauteng, Kwa Zulu Natal and Western Cape. The program was worth Millions. This is an example of the foundation’s commitment to transformation of lives.
The family unit in South Africa has been facing enormous challenges to an extent that it has somehow succumbed and near extinction. Consequently, there is a lot of social ills ranging from crime, women abuse and gender-based violence. Statistics have shown that a woman or a child is raped every 3 minutes in South Africa. We believe that when we empower a woman, we empower the family and therefore the whole community. We therefore with our combined experience and relationships do training, workshops and raise awareness on issues including family values, different pieces of legislation and create access and systems that bring valuable impact and change.
On the other hand, the education system is not reaching the rural villages and informal settlements fast enough. Schools are dilapidated and without basic infrastructure and equipment for an environment conducive for learning. Most schools do not have basic libraries, computers and science Purpose labs, and often text books arrive late, therefore affecting learners in such areas. Children are also not able to enter tertiary education because they do not have application fees and registration fees. This is in addition to disadvantaged situations they find themselves in. It is in this view that Treasured Lives embarked on the program to provide a solution to the above, with the purpose of transforming these lives for the better.
The foundation has already started reuniting families, coaching women including those who have been through gender based violence, coaching and mentoring village children and youth to see beyond their situations, know better and do better. Some of them are now working, some are in universities, and we are proud of our young ladies doing very well in courses that are mostly male dominated, proving that education and empowering women is key. We also adopted seven schools in the deep villages in North-West province that saw most schools coming from below 50% to achieve A results, and we seek to roll out the projects nationally by 2025.
The Treasured Women Network has also decided to fully rally behind the foundation and provide for basic needs for children like pads, school uniform and each member is going to through the foundation, adopt a high school where they matriculated, allowing us to reach more children and help with their education and related situations.
