Chairperson of the Gandhi Development Trust Paddy Kearney has made an ardent call for support for the Gandhi 150 club which was launched on 2nd October 2017. He reminded the audience that on October 2, 2019 the world will be celebrating the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. To prepare for this wonderful anniversary he invited Gandhi supporters to become members of the new “Gandhi 150 Club”.
He explained, “Those who become members will be supporting the programmes of the GDT which comprises:
- Training of Early Childhood Education(ECD) practitioners. Thus far 184 practitioners have been trained from a wide ranging radius around the greater Durban area.
- Training parents of children in the ECD programme.
- Providing school learners from grades 6 upwards training in Peaceful conflict resolution, effective communication skills and HIV/AIDS awareness reaching over 800 learners thus far.
- Providing learners with opportunities to research on current topics and to learn skills in public speaking and writing through its annual speech and essay contests.
- Advocating for a culture of ubuntu and nonviolence through the Annual Salt March in which thousands of people have taken part each year.
- Remembering and learning from the lives of Mahatma Gandhi and our great leaders through appropriate events to commemorate important dates in their lives.
- Providing emergency and educational services to those in need through an outreach programme of advocacy and training.
These programmes are possible on an annual budget of R2 million. The Gandhi 150 club is one way to obtain both support for these programmes in moral and financial terms and to obtain wider participation in the special 150 years programme. You can pledge your support through visiting the GDT website at www.gdt.org.za and clicking on Gandhi 150 club.