It’s the gifting season. Maybe you feel like doing something meaningful and giving back to your community this Christmas? We found plenty of ways to donate and volunteer right here in Mauritius…
Christmas festivities are around the corner, and while it’s a time for gifts shopping and endless feasting, this is a time that can be particularly challenging for others. We all love staying in this beautiful island and we can give back in a lot of ways…. Read on for great initiatives in Mauritius where you can volunteer or donate this Christmas season or any other time of the year.
Where to donate and find volunteer work in Mauritius?
Show some love to local stray dogs and cats
If you have a soft spot for animals, and especially dogs, lend a hand to the Mauritius Society for Animal Welfare. It advocates sterilization for community dogs as a measure to reduce the number of stray dogs spreading around the island. The root cause of stray dogs is careless owners allowing uncontrolled reproduction of their pets. With the collaboration of the Ministry of Agro Industry and Food Security, they have launched a “Free Mass Sterilization Campaign” since September 2015. They organize various events to raise awareness and promote animal welfare such as Dog shows, Pet shows, Dog training demos, etc. One of their main activity is the rehoming process whereby they organise Adoption Days so that dogs and cats find responsible and caring owners.
Website: MSAW.
- Donate: call 464 5084 / 466 7154 or email admin@msaw-mu.org.
- Volunteer: register here and help organising events, finding new homes for their dogs and cats and taking care of them.
- Adopt a dog or cat: find the process here.
Other charities you can look at helping stray dogs : Well-being of strays, Pink Poney, Happy Tail Sanctuary or Louspoir.
Give children in needs a home
Many children unfortunately, are vulnerable because they have lost parental care, are at risk of abandonment or their basic rights are not being fulfilled. Some children need full-time alternative care by a caregiver outside their family of origin. SOS Children’s Villages is a global organization which started in Austria in 1946 for children who had lost their families as the result of the Second World War, and expanded to help children all over the world. In Mauritius, they provide family care in individual family houses provided by the association and located in Beau Bassin and Bambous, and houses integrated in the community. The organization also provides services to prevent family breakdown and strengthen families in disavdantaged localities to prevent child neglect and abandonment. They provide counselling and psychosocial support to parents, employability and life skills training for parents and young people and awareness campaigns.
Website: SOS Children’s Villages in Mauritius
- Donate: click here to donate.
- Volunteer: click here to learn more about the different ways you can help the association, whether it’s helping children with reading programs, become an SOS Learning Buddy and help them do their homework, become a SOS Mentor, share your skills for activities with children and more.
- Fundraise: find ideas on how you can fundraise money for the association here.
- Learn more about their achievements in Mauritius last year.
Help protect the beautiful ecosystem and biodiversity of Mauritius
The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation
The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (Mauritian Wildlife) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) whose mission is to save endemic Mauritian and Rodriguan fauna and flora, undertake research on how to restore and manage the ecosystem, share the results with the general public and protect the native species’ future. The Foundation started its restoration work of the ecosystem in the 1970s which has succeeded in rescuing the Mauritius Kestrel, Echo Parakeet and Pink Pigeon, from the brink of extinction.
Website: Mauritian Wildlife
- Donate: click here to donate.
- Support by visiting Ile aux Aigrettes (know more here) or purchase Mauritian Wildlife products (access shop here).
Eco-Sud
The primary mission of the NGO is to fervently protect the Mauritian territory biodiversity and environment, for the current and future generations. To complete this mission, Eco-Sud is dedicated to raising awareness and educating the public on ecological issues, assembling and rallying a strong and passionate local society, defending and protecting the engendered species and sites on the Mauritian territory and promoting a balance between environmental, social and economic developments.
Website: Eco-Sud
- Ask policy makers and landowners to partner with the civil society to ensure that the ESA Bill is implemented as soon as possible by signing the Manifesto for the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) Bill.
- Volunteer: find short term and long term volunteering opportunities here.
- “Adopt a Coral” or donate. More information here.
- Support by participating to one of their Eco Tours, from the Ecosystem Conservation Tour, to Mahebourg Coast Tour to the .
Donate your stuff for a good cause
The Charity Centre in Tamarin was founded in 2013 with the aim to help raise money for those in need and to raise awareness on the importance of using second hands items and reduce waste. They donate to diverse charities on the island, with a focus on underprivileged kids and adults, reducing the number of strays, people with handicap and keeping Mauritius clean. So, why not help them fundraise by gifting items you don’t use or buying new ones from the thrift shop at very affordable prices?
Facebook page : The Charity Centre in Tamarin. Drop your items whenever you want, and shop on Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9am-2pm. Avenue des Vacoas, Carlos Tamarin.
The Good Shop is a social enterprise operating in 3 locations and distributing the items they receive to over 45 NGO partners. They provide jobs to people in communities which face barriers to employement. Through their work, they have also extended the useful life of over 120,000 items, developed a line of upcycled and repaired products and started a production workshop for recycled furniture. The surplus money they are able to raise goes to Schalrship fund for at-risk youth to obtain a premier primary and secundary education.
Website: The Good Shop. Stores in pamplemousses, Curepipe and Belle Rose. Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm.
Support disabled people in your community to live their best life
The Tamarin Cheshire Home has been started by Ginette Lan Yee Chiu in 1977 to help disabled men and women, physically and mentally to relearn to live. They are free to come whenever they want and to participate in activities such as artcraft or gardening, outside events, physical exercises, musicotherapy… The charity receives subsidies from the government but also relies on donations.
Tamarin Cheshire Home, Royal Rd, Tamarin. To donate, call: 4836652.
The Fondation Georges Charles (FGC) is an NGO which operates as a Special Education Needs School (SENS) and a Day Care Centre. It caters for intellectually disabled children and young adults and aims at promoting their integration in society through education and training. The organisation is based at Pointe aux Sables, ever since its inception in 1982. Some 72 impaired children and young adults, aged between 5 and 38 years old attend the day care centre and specialised school.
Website : Fondation Georges Charles. To donate, click here.
Empower vulnerable communities and contribute to meaningful projects
The I61 Foundation is a charitable foundation which identifies Nonprofit Organisation (NPO) projects that fulfill their objectives of empowering and rebuilding vulnerable communities and providing opportunities to those oppressed by poverty and social injustice. They match those projects with funders who have the same focus and passion. On their website, you can discover their projects which need funding and allocate money to them. Due diligence of all parties is processed by their compliance team. The I61 Foundation then ensures that the outcomes of these partnerships are effective and sustainable through ongoing monitoring and evaluating of the entire project process. Thanks to the platform, more than 66 projects have already been funded and successfully completed.
Website: The I61 Foundation.
- Donate to specific projects here.
- Volunteer : through their Volunteer Connect service, the foundation can connect you with various opportunities of volunteering, including literacy programs with children and adults, construction work for the community, garment upcycling and recycling, admin and computer work. Click here ot know more.
Help children living in pockets of poverty in Mauritius
The proportion of households below the relative poverty line is increasing, and so is the income inequality. It’s difficult to ignore the slums neighbouring luxurious resorts and newly built malls in some areas. There are a few organisations helping to empower children and vulnerable people living in pockets of poverty:
Ti Rayons Soleil
Ti Rayons Soleil was created in 2007 in Mauritius. The association helps by poviding eduative, nutritional, medical and psychological support to the children in need.
Website: Ti Rayons Soleil. Donate or volunteer: email at info@tirayons.org.
Will Fly
Will Fly is a non profit organization which has been around for over 15 years and whose mission is to help underprivileged children and teenagers from the “cité”. Will Fly provides after-school support to around a hundred children aged 3 to 17 from Rivière Noire. Beyond homework help, they offer a safe and nurturing environment where these children can meet others, receive positive influence, and find a sense of belonging. This work is instrumental in empowering these young souls to break free from the shackles of poverty and adversity. Check this article to see how Frolic has been supporting this organisation.
Contact: reach out to Marie-Anne Lagane, the president of the organization (email: mlagane@hotmail.com) to learn more about how you can volunteer or donate.
Help avoid food waste and fight food insecurity in Mauritius
1/3 of the food produced is wasted. That’s 279 kilos of food wasted every minute, while 17% of Mauritians live in food insecurity and 1 in 4 children between 5 and 11 is underweight in Mauritius. FoodWise fights against food waste and food insecurity in Mauritius by providing solutions for businesses to save food. Fighting food waste has also huge environmental positive impact as when food is lost or wasted, the energy, water and the land used to grow, transform, transport, store and cook this food is also wasted.
Website: Foodwise
Give sick children access to treatments
Enn Rev Enn Sourir is an association whose mission since 2017 is to help children in Mauritius and the Indian Ocean, gain, quality access to paediatric healthcare, locally or abroad. Their mission is to raise funds to sponsor the treatments so that the children and their family do not bear that heavy financial burden.
Website: Enn Rev Enn Sourir
Provide psychosocial support to families living in poverty
Poverty is not just about income. The objective of Lovebridge interventions, through its psychosocial support, is the empowerment of vulnerable families with an exit route. On the field since 2012, Lovebridge has developed an impactful field methodology based on a multidimensional approach: the organization is intervening on the six fundamental interconnected pillars which are: Education, Employment, Food & Nutrition, Housing, Health, and MASCO (Motivation, Attitude, Skills & know-how, Courage the psychosocial pillar).
The field team, in collaboration with the beneficiaries, devise strategies and action plans for the targets set on the short, medium, and long term. Every strategy and action plan is tailored specifically to each beneficiary family, as the interventions depend on their individual profiles, identified needs, and issues. From 2016-2021, the organisation has provided psychosocial support to more than 1,000 families.
Website: Lovebridge. More information on how to donate here. Email: info@lovebridge.mu.
Provide emergency response to basic needs, housing programmes, trainings and development services to empower people living in poverty
– Listening, accompaniment and development which welcomes and listens emphatically, extend appropriate support to help restore the dignity of the poorest.
– Centers for young children in pockets of poverty, which provide for a balanced diet for better growth, the promotion of personal hygiene and stimulation of the psycho-affective, sensory motor and cognitive levels through various activities.
– Community farms which provide training for food and better quality of life for the community; agricultural training for food security; coping skills training for socialization and self-discipline for a better quality of life.
– Development of performing arts for vulnerable community.
– Housing funds to allow low-income families to have dent housing and become the owner of their house.
– Night shelters to help homeless persons regain their human dignity as citizens, help them become accountable for themselves and develop a spirit of solidarity, compassion and mutual understnading among those affected by homelessness.
– “Half way home”, to provide a temporary apartment to enable a family save on rent to facilitate the realization of their housing project.
– Life skills management training program to enhance capacity building and participants’ coping skills to become employable and develop social skills.
– Functional literacy training
– Educational Community Development Programme aimed at empowering the local community through a whole gamut of activities for adults and children.
– Pastry and bakery training targeting housewives, single mothers and young unemployed persons.
Website: Caritas Ile Maurice
- Volunteer: more information here.
- Donations: more inforamtion here
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