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Uniforms 101

Project People Foundation funds the Uniforms 101 Project which provides new school uniforms for low-income students in the townships of Cape Town. PPF also trains the women to design and manufacture the uniforms.

In South Africa today, more than 500,000 children do not attend school because uniforms are mandatory and their families cannot afford the price of a school uniform. The vast majority of these children live in townships and squatter camps where the unemployment rate is close to 70% and 25-30% of the residents are HIV positive. Education is the key to a better life for these children and without a uniform, education becomes a “dream deferred.”

Since January 2005, over 200 women trained through PPF at “Basadi Pele,” a community training and manufacturing site in Johannesburg, have made and distributed over 2,300 school uniforms for township children. PPF’s program has enabled previously unemployed women to move toward economic self-sufficiency and provided self-esteem and hope for the future.