Bringing dignity to life in townships
Friends for townshipsIt takes a village to raise a child — that is not a cliché.
You can be that village: your donation provides the basics, the dignity and the safety a child needs to flourish.
Be the village for the townships, and you’ll change their future.
MAKE AN IMPACT
How it works
Choose a project
Browse our active projects and find a cause that speaks to your heart.
Make a donation
Donate securely online. Every cent counts, no matter the amount.
We take action
Your donation goes directly to the project of your choice.
See your impact
Receive updates by email on how your donation is making a difference.
DONATE FOR LANGA
Projects that need your support
ABOUT LANGA
A place that stays
with you
Langa is Cape Town’s oldest township. Home to around 70,000 people. Vibrant. Proud. And facing realities most of us will never know firsthand.
More than half of residents are unemployed. Many live in shacks — shelters of corrugated iron and reclaimed wood, with no running water, no toilet, no heat. For water or a bathroom, you walk. Sometimes hundreds of metres. Children go to school on an empty stomach. Classes of 70 or more. After school: the street. Because home offers nothing — and certainly not a safe place to do homework.
And yet. There is life here. Warmth. People with plans, with dreams, with a fierce desire to build something better.
With relatively small amounts of money, real change is possible.
Schools
Quality education is the catalyst for a better life. But how do you start a lesson when students arrive on empty stomachs, in overcrowded classrooms, with very old materials and not enough school uniforms?
Sport
Skills that outlast the final whistle. The Iceland Prevention Model shows that reducing youth substance use and risky behaviour works best by strengthening daily protective factors—and sport addresses more of these than anything else.
Orphanages / Children’s homes
Thirty orphans, six caregivers, under one safe roof. Ikhaya Lekamva is a leading example. For the kids who live there, it’s everything. They are safe, go to school, do their homework, take care of each other, and are eager to give back.
Disabled centre
One running toilet and one working stove — that is the daily reality of a nurse taking care of dependent people living with severe, permanent disabilities, all of them wheelchair users.
Fires & Floods
The crisis does not end when the flames die down or the rain stops. Families lose everything in minutes – shelter, clothing, food, school supplies, medication, and the little security they had. Your donation helps provide immediate relief, rebuild homes, and restore dignity and hope.
After-school care
The school day doesn’t end when the final bell rings!
Every child deserves a safe after-school space where they are seen and heard—where they can do homework, share a nutritious meal, join activities, and spend time with caring mentors.
ABOUT US
The story behind Friends for Townships
“It’s a privilege to lead a life
that enables you to help others.”
– Henk-Steven Renzenbrink, founder
The first time I walked into Langa, something in me stopped.
Just a few kilometres from the centre of Cape Town, I suddenly found myself in a completely different world. On one side of the city people live in comfort, surrounded by opportunity. On the other side, thousands of people live in small shacks made from scrap wood and corrugated metal.
The contrast is hard to describe.
I remember thinking:
How can this exist in the same place?
But what stayed with me even more than the poverty was something else.
Life.
Children playing in the streets.
People greeting each other.
Tour guides proudly telling the story of their community.
Despite everything, there was dignity.
And I felt a quiet thought arise:
Maybe I can be part of the solution.
BECOME A FRIEND
Staying connected matters
As a Friend of Langa, you receive updates from the township, stories of the people your support reaches, news about projects, moments that remind you why it matters. It takes thirty seconds. And it means Langa stays on your radar instead of fading into a memory.
Because out of sight shouldn’t mean out of mind.
