POPUP (People Upliftment Programme) is a non-profit organisation with a holistic approach to the upliftment of under-privileged communities thereby ensuring that all the needs of individuals are addressed – mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. POPUP renders services to all persons living in Tshwane (in the Gauteng province, South Africa) and the surrounding areas regardless of race, culture, gender or religion.
Skills Development & Training
POPUP presents 9 market related skills programmes to unemployed people. Learners only pay a minimum amount of R60 for the training and learners receive a balanced meal every day of their training. The programmes last between 2 and 16 weeks.
Our requirements are that learners should be between the age of 18 and 45 and unemployed. Prospective learners should also pass a basic English and Mathematics assessment. Learners should have no post school qualifications (grade 12 is not necessary).
All the learners attend a compulsory 10 day Life Skills programme that is aimed at restoring their lives. Not only does the programme equip them with practical skills like communication skills and time management skills, but they are taught that their lives have purpose. A Biblical foundation is laid in their lives, resulting in changed morals and values. Learners trained at POPUP enter society as changed people who can make a difference in the transformation of Tshwane.
Job Creation & Placement
POPUP assists with entrepreneurial development by means of a Business Skills / Entrepreneurial training programme. POPUP also assist learners to create their own small businesses, by providing starter kits and mentorship during the start up phase of the business. POPUP uses the services of recruitment agencies to place qualified students. In 2009 64% of our learners were placed in employment.
Social Support Services
POPKids: POPKids daycare centre cares for 70 toddlers aged between 1 and 5 years. POPKids provides in the children’s physical, spiritual and educational needs.
Soup Kitchen: A soup kitchen distributes food every week day at Doxa Deo Inner City Campus to approximately 250 people daily.
Food parcels: Food parcels are issued on a weekly basis to approximately 45 needy families.
Clothing store: The store hands out free clothing to the needy. The beneficiaries are screened by the social worker and the clothing store is monitored by means of a database.
Counselling: Counselling at POPUP offers supportive service for everyone, especially traumatised people.
Medical, Dental and Eye-care Services
POPMed: POPMed is a free medical clinic. It is run by a full time nurse, who is assisted by a volunteer medical doctor, one day a week. POPMed provides basic community health care services. Issues like healthy eating, social behaviour, planning for the future, chronic illnesses and cultural beliefs are addressed Biblically.
POPDent: POPDent is a free, fully equipped community dentistry clinic. Final year dentistry students from Medunsa, under the guidance of their lecturer and a dental assistant, provide the POPDent services. The services include extraction of teeth, fillings, scaling and polishing and general dental health promotion.
POPEye: POPEye offers an eye care service that includes eye testing and supplying frames and glasses at reasonable costs to those in need. Volunteer optometrists render the services.
Makhulong Foster Care Programme
Makhulong Foster Care Programme (MFCP) is a haven for Aids and Aids related orphans. We care for children irrespective of their race, religion or nationality. We follow a model of family homes, with two parents and a maximum of 6 to 8 children per home. There are currently two homes, the Shalom home for primary school children and the Jabulani home for high-school children. We strive to give the children in our care the most normal home possible.
Future plans
POPUP hopes to continue delivering the same quality services at the Salvokop premises in future. POPUP also started a second training centre on the Edendale farm, in the north-east of Pretoria. This centre will provide hard skills training to the unemployed as well as training in Arts and Crafts, Sewing and Upholstery. We are also planning enterprise development activities at Edendale.
POPUP will present six building trades, which we plan to expand in time to come. We hope that more lives will be restored and that more people will gain skills that will make them employable.
Operates in: Tshwane, Gauteng
Established in: March 2000
Non-Profit Organisation Number: 007-050
Public Benefit Organisation Number: 130004846
Section 21 Company Number: 2000/030918/08
Trust Number:
Contact person: Elmie Botha
Phone: 012 328 6107
Fax: 012 324 8985
Email:
Website: www.popup.co.za
Physical address: 3 Skietpoort Ave, Salvokop
Postal address: P O Box 4490, Pretoria, 0001
