THE SA Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT) stepped in to finance a R620 000 high-ride, eight-seater vehicle to the Upper Highway Baby Home recently.

The baby home in Summerveld was started by Gary and Kerry Stanton and has been in operation since January 2019. The vehicle will help the home’s ‘Saving Futures Programme’ which serves about 1000 teen mums and their babies in the Upper Highway rural areas.

The programme ensures teen mums can continue attending school, while also providing mobile clinic and counselling services.

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“Without suitable transport the organisation’s services would have been cruelly impacted. Having a suitable vehicle in place is key to reaching the last miles, closing the gap for members of remote rural, low-income communities,” said SAMCT representative Gaff Osman.

The Upper Highway Baby Home’s programme affords especially young victims of gender-based violence hope and an improved future for them and their babies. The organisation has more than 2800 graduates, with only one repeat pregnancy, in the programme. The girls all finish school with the support of the organisation and go on to be better mothers with healthy babies who can go on to funded Early Childhood Development programmes.

“Their initiative addresses the widespread problem of teenage pregnancy, overlooked by government and which has only recently begun gaining notice from officials.

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“We, of the SAMCT, were, therefore, pleased to partner with the Upper Highway Baby Home through our vehicle donation to assist in keeping teenage mums, some as young as 11 years of age, in school with the hope of a sustainable future for both their babies and themselves.

“Our funding has provided a much-needed vehicle for the transport of mums and babies and provides for a vital assessment and counselling centre in the field,” said Osman.

The SAMCT was created in 2008, the result of a partnership between Old Mutual Unit Trusts and Al Baraka Bank, for the creation, marketing and distribution of a suite of Shariah Funds. The organisation provides funding, services and other resources to improve the lives of the vulnerable, deprived and disadvantaged.

The Upper Highway Baby Home started as a baby home for vulnerable and abandoned babies until they could be adopted into suitable families, but shortly after opening it was recognised that most of the babies in the baby home had come from teen mums.

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