Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Caught in these words, the terms “dignity” and “fraternity” reveal, among other things, the notions of respect and solidarity cultivated within the charitable world that weaves the Mauritian web…
Delphine Raimond
National or local, with multiple or concentrated causes… the many NGOs present in Mauritius bear witness to a social commitment that could almost be described as cultural, so deeply rooted is solidarity in the country’s DNA. Launched in 2007, the ACTogether.mu platform, managed and financed by the CIEL Foundation, lists over 140 Mauritian associations active in all sectors. Let’s go and meet Christiane, Zeennate, Sophie, Valérie… and listen to them tell us about their associative life and their educational commitment to children and young people in precarious situations.
The giant Caritas
Caritas has been active for decades in many nations around the world, and was founded in Mauritius in the late 60s. Today, it mobilizes over a thousand volunteers in every region of the island. In addition to reception centers, listening, support and development services, learning, training and functional literacy centers, community farms and gardens… some fifteen early-learning centers offer toddlers hygiene and discipline training, as well as sensory and motor stimulation, in preparation for their entry into kindergarten. At the Caritas Lakaz Lespwar center in Solitude, fifty volunteers take care of needy families all year round; a dozen or so are dedicated to children during the vacations, with workshops and other initiatives. Director Christiane Pasnin tells me all about the Christmas preparations undertaken by the community’s children at the end of October. During the two-month vacation period, some sixty youngsters, left to their own devices, join Lakaz Lespwar’s creative workshops three times a week. Alongside them, the Tipa association provides invaluable educational support. Handicrafts and the recycling of plastics, fabrics and other materials raise ecological awareness, while developing artistic talents. “The various objects and Christmas decorations that the children make enhance their creativity. We offer them meals and try to bring them light… joy!” A lunch will be served to families on December 20, and some fifteen food vouchers will be distributed. “We realized that when delivering food parcels, recipients didn’t have a choice of products, so we’re doing things differently this year, so they can indulge themselves in the preparation of the Christmas meal!” On December 22, gifts will be distributed to seventy-five children, and on December 23, parents will discover the Christmas choir, which has been assiduously rehearsed.
Education… a tool for social cohesion
For children with learning disabilities, motor handicaps and/or intellectual handicaps, many NGOs offer “normal” schooling in “specialized” institutions, to rehabilitate them physically and psychologically. Ruth School, run by SENS (Special Education Needs Society) in Rose Hill, welcomes dyslexic, hyperactive, autistic and epileptic children aged 5 to 16 every day. Zeennate Sairally, the school’s manager, defines the aim of SENS as “helping children with learning difficulties to become self-sufficient and thus master educational skills”. When it was founded in 1992, the NGO was a multidisciplinary support to the government education system. Four years later, it finally had full-time classes, but lack of funds and qualified staff put the initiative on hold. It was in 2001 that the Ruth School achieved its goal, offering 100% operational classrooms, supervised by teachers, educators and occupational therapists. When I approach Zeennate, she and her teams are in the middle of a training workshop for the school’s teachers and educators. Since its foundation, SENS has trained hundreds of teachers – a fundamental step. The school program is complemented by extracurricular activities (workshops, sports, games, yoga, music, arts…), parent support and advice, therapeutic activities… “We mainly use the phonics method. We mainly use phonetic and Montessori methods. Each class accommodates a maximum of 16 students divided by level, for two teachers.” As for what happens to them when they leave, Zeennate says: “The majority of students return to mainstream schools, with regular follow-up by our teams. Last year, our success rate exceeded 85%.” As for the school integration protocol, specialized therapists and teachers carry out a preliminary assessment and report back to the parents, before integrating the child full-time, part-time or referring him or her to another institution. While 36 salaried staff and 8 volunteers, all members of the committee, are committed to the association, Zeennate nevertheless deplores: “The major difficulty for me is the turnover of teachers who leave us after further training… mainly for salary reasons.”
La Courte Échelle is an NGO founded in Mapou in 2002 by two concerned mothers to provide a home for children who were failing at school. At the time, the school had just two pupils, but thanks to the support of families and donors, and the dedication of volunteers and teachers, it now has four teachers and three assistants, for 22 pupils aged from 10 to 29, supplemented by support workers in creative workshops and psychological care. Excluded from the conventional school system, children with behavioral, attention and learning disorders, hearing impairments and other mild to moderate mental delays benefit from quality teaching at their own pace. They take part in swimming, tennis, Zumba, music and gardening, and work on an individual project. The educational staff is supported by a paramedical team: psychologist, neuro-psychologist, occupational therapist. Sophie Grigorieff, the school’s co-founder and president, tells me that the school operates with 3 classes, according to a three-level cycle: “The first involves learning to read, using the Alphas method and game-based work to work on memory, concentration and logic. The other two involve perfecting their knowledge, taking into account their aptitudes, to lead them towards professional integration from the age of 16, with the help of Inclusion Maurice.” In addition, a day workshop for young adults is dedicated to those who do not have the capacity to work without protected and adapted supervision. A specific program develops their autonomy, particularly in the organization of school and meal preparation. When I ask Sophie if she encounters any obstacles in running the facility, she replies: “The challenge isn’t in running it, because we have a great team to manage both the administrative and pedagogical aspects. The biggest challenge is helping each student to become an adult capable of adapting to the world of work.
At the Quartier des Serres Christmas market, the 1er and December 2, the students sold items they had made themselves, and the young people in the workshop sold crêpes and cakes. They also composed and recorded the Christmas song, performed for the event, in Kenny’s studio.
Since 2012, Lovebridge has been working closely with Mauritian families across the country, to help them move forward on the six fundamental pillars of children’s education, housing, health, employment and employability, food and nutrition, MASCO (motivation, positive attitude, know-how and courage). The NGO intervenes in the family setting, providing psychosocial support and guidance in day-to-day decisions and actions that impact all members of the household. The approach is holistic, aiming to create an environment conducive to the child’s personal development and academic progress. The professional team devotes an average of 5 hours a month to each family.
Music… a vector for community ties
Valérie Lemaire is the director ofAtelier Mo’Zar, which currently has 102 students aged 6 to 20. According to her, “Mo’Zar is well known in Mauritius for the quality of its musical education and its social commitment”. The NGO, founded in 1996 by the late José Thérèse, combats social exclusion by introducing people to music, and more specifically to jazz. “The exercise is arduous, requiring commitment from the young learner, effort and daily practice of the instrument. It’s learning discipline that will bring about change in children and show them that hard work pays off. The association’s young musicians are proud to be Mo’Zar students, as their families, friends, neighbors and society in general look upon them in a very positive light. As a result, they gain in confidence and realize their full potential. The average length of the program is nine years, and the success rate in school exams is 100%. With justifiable pride, the manager tells me about the positive impact on the students: “Overall, we see good attendance, and we don’t let them go! I also detect respect, ambition… and above all an incredible desire to become good musicians, without necessarily wanting to make a career of it. There’s also a strong sense of belonging to Mo’Zar!” Like any social organization, sponsors are essential. “We receive funding from the CSR, through the National Social Inclusion Foundation, and also appeal to private sector companies and patrons. These fund, among other things, our program of excellence, which includes internships here and abroad, master classes, etc.” Last June, the workshop’s partners subsidized a two-week tour of Belgium and France, as part of the launch of the documentary film Mo’Zar Mon Style, by Belgian director Sébastien Petretti, which will be presented in Mauritius in 2024. Solicited all year round by hotels to perform, the students are currently preparing a calendar of performances for the Christmas and New Year period (not finalized at the time of the interview). Valérie is also working on an exciting social project: a small series of jazz concerts in the island’s disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Cooking… a catalyst for vocations
A few years ago, a study by the Adolescent Non Formal Education Network ( ANFEN ), founded in 2000 on the initiative of UNICEF to take in young people who were failing at school, assessed their needs and aspirations. In its 17 informal education centers, the students’ wish is to enter the world of employment more quickly. ANFEN then imagined a cooking school, associated with MITD and registered with MQA. An appeal was launched and forty young people over the age of 16 applied. Viken Vadeevaloo, Executive Director of ANFEN, describes the selection process: “Thirty candidates finally attended the information session on the industry, its realities, difficulties and challenges… and twenty-six remained determined to join the school. They had to submit a video explaining their motivations, pass interviews with catering professionals and take assessments in mathematics, French and English. In October 2021, a first group of 14 students inaugurated the Aline Leal School of Cuisine (ECAL), then focusing on academic notions and psychosocial skills. At the end of 2022, chef Kishore Andhin, with forty years’ experience, joins the school to train the young apprentices. ECAL also benefits from the support of the Constance Foundation, as demonstrated by the chocolate workshop run last August by Prince Maurice’s pastry chef. A generous sharing of knowledge that gives these young candidates a concrete prospect of a professional future.
Foodwise, from vulnerability to dignity
A social organization committed to combating food waste and insecurity, Foodwise collects surplus and unsold food from 300 food companies, redistributing it to around 100 NGOs. Over 5 million meals have been dispensed since its inception in 2018. Local data from 2017 (which are the most recent) already indicated a worrying situation: 17% of Mauritians living in food insecurity, one child in four suffering from malnutrition! Added to the post-Covid challenges and current inflation, Foodwise’s social mission takes on a vital dimension this Christmas season.
A company manager tells us: “The focus remains on our day-to-day operations to efficiently redistribute surplus and unsold food to NGOs. At the same time, as part of our Kadi Partaze initiative, we are organizing our last food drive of the year. Over twenty supermarkets will be taking part in this crucial initiative this month. At this festive time of year, our primary objective is to give families access to essential products. We are counting heavily on the generosity of Mauritians to collect as much food as possible.”
The beating heart of business
Sharing and generosity come alive in the foundations and platforms behind every major player in the local economic fabric. Training young people excluded from the education system, some of whom are barely out of childhood, remains an absolute priority. Each hotel group, for example, has its own apprenticeship program; it’s impossible for us to zoom in on all of them!
The Antoine Tsia Lip Ken Foundation (ATLKF), created in 2012 by Pascal Tsin (CEO of the Super U Group – Mauritius) and named after his grandfather, marks a decade of commitment and impact on communities. Les Mirabelles crèches have helped over a thousand children and their families in Grand Baie, Flacq and Tamarin, since 2013. Sunday Care, in partnership with the Abaim group, has been fostering children’s development through creative, musical, playful and cultural activities since 2015, as has Street Football, a program introduced the same year that has already encouraged over two hundred children to get involved in sport. As for the Bouze ar liv project, it has been stimulating a taste for reading in hundreds of young people since 2017. ATLKF is working to launch new projects at Goodlands, alongside its loyal partner, La Fondation pour l’Enfance – Terre de Paix.
In partnership with the EU, the Beachcomber Group’s Fondation Espoir Développement (FED) launched a vast social inclusion project in 2021, Vulnerable Lives Matter, consolidating, among other things, the Projet Employabilité Jeunes (PEJ) initiated in 2004, which has trained thousands of school-leavers through internships in the Group’s hotels. Today, many of these young people have stable jobs and the prospect of a brighter future. The international Duke of Edinburgh Award program, under the aegis of the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Recreation, encourages them to become active and responsible citizens, to participate in community service in their villages, and to discover altruism and self-discipline. Another FED project, Beautiful Local Hands, has been promoting the island’s craftsmanship for seventeen years and has just opened a concept store in Trou aux Biches, brimming with responsible treasures and gift ideas for Christmas. Discover ravannes, paper jewelry, items made from recycled fabrics and other materials, bamboo boxes, guava wood trivets and more. Proceeds are redistributed to the artisans and reinvested in the project to develop it further.
For its part, the Constance Foundation promotes leisure and sporting activities for young people in the east of the island, with the aim of turning them into responsible, accomplished future leaders who feel good about themselves! A fervent supporter of the Faucon Flacq Sporting Club, last July the foundation financed the trip of eight young cyclists – including the youngest aged 13 – who joined ten French athletes to experience international training. The recently launched Constance Cycling Academy takes under its wing young people in precarious situations, to turn them into future champions.
In a different vein, the Terra Foundation, in association with Mathieu Opticiens, recently offered recycled, adapted and adjusted glasses to pupils at the ZEP H. Ramnarain school (supported for almost twenty years by the hotel group) suffering from sight problems. As part of this responsible and sustainable approach, free consultations and diagnoses were provided. This solidarity project, which is destined to last, appeals to your sense of civic responsibility by encouraging you to bring your old glasses back to Mathieu Opticiens branches. In addition to helping those in need, a donation of 65 rupees is made to the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation for each pair collected in the “Glasses for Reborn” boxes.
Books and ideas…
What would Christmas be without the books under the tree? What would the literary world be without its little addresses!
Papyrus is a family-run bookshop, opened in 1988 and located in the Mall Choisy gallery. Among the many new releases in children’s literature: the musical tale Je découvre Pierre et le loup, Ma valisette à histoires Petit Ours Brun, the pretty boxed set of 5 Mini-Loup stories, Le cerf-volant ou l’école de Lalita, adapted from the novel by Laetitia Colombani, the Mon jeu cherche et trouve des bébés animaux board and card set, and many other books and coloring pages to discover on site!
Éditions VIZAVI – which has the Made in Moris label – was founded and has been run for thirty years by the sparkling Pascale Siew, who is entirely devoted to the multicultural influence of Mauritius, is once again offering a catalog brimming with nuggets sold in all Mauritian bookshops. From travel journals to historical accounts; from art books to children’s literature. For toddlers, the Zimaz collection or the story of Ti Solo Grand Héros… For older children, the Ludo le Dodo albums, the Popo Simone graphic novel, stories, educational booklets, card games… And the adventures of Tikoulou, the little Mauritian hero with the funny hairdo, who travels around his island with his friends. As well as being passionate about her profession, Pascale is an altruist actively involved in schools and social centers, promoting reading and combating illiteracy among underprivileged children. In my opinion, choosing one of the many books published by VIZAVI is a fine act of citizenship.
