Acting Hope becomes Oxbridge Academy's NPO platform
Oxbridge Academy is proud to announce that the non-profit organisation Acting Hope has now become the college's official NPO. This announcement coincides with Acting Hope's annual Hope International Pageant, which is taking place this November and December, and where finalists will be judged on much more than just traditional pageantry criteria.
Acting Hope and Oxbridge Academy
Acting Hope was founded in 2012 by Mrs United Nations South Africa 2014, Ingrid Burger. According to Burger, Acting Hope's aim is to "improve the cycle of emotional poverty in children and women from disadvantaged backgrounds and also give those who have lost hope something to believe in again".
Acting Hope has three central objectives, with the third objective fully realisable through its partnership with Oxbridge Academy:
1. To provide support-based activities, lessons, and workshops to women and children from rural areas or disadvantaged schools and backgrounds, with the aim of empowering them. 2. To provide opportunities for women and children from rural and disadvantaged areas in South Africa to take part in activities, lessons, and workshops that will facilitate the growth of body, soul, and mind. 3. To provide educational opportunities for children, women, and men - with the aim of empowering, educating, and equipping them for living a self-supportive life.
Acting Hope is involved in a long list of projects, including a drama school, environmental conservation programmes, and outreaches to hospitals, children's homes, schools, and informal settlements. You can see Acting Hope's full list of projects here.
Oxbridge Academy has been working with Acting Hope since September 2015, and has now taken the organisation on as its official NPO platform. Through this partnership, Oxbridge Academy aims to help those involved in Acting Hope projects to improve their lives by giving them bursaries to further their studies. This project is being initiated at this year's Hope International Pageant (starting 30 November), where Oxbridge Academy will be awarding the winners college bursaries to study the courses of their choice at Oxbridge Academy.
A pageant promoting community development
Hope Pageants International was established by Burger as the international platform for Acting Hope. But this is not, however, a beauty pageant that focuses on glitz and glamour, as the 20 finalists from around the world will be judged on the contributions they have made to disadvantaged communities. Fifty percent of the finalists' scores will be allocated on the basis of community projects that they are involved in as pageant finalists.
The vision behind the Hope International Pageant is to help children and women find their own callings and to motivate them to become part of the solution of critical social problems in South Africa and around the world. South African contestants, for example, start their journey to the finals by doing various small projects under the guidance of provincial directors. The South African finalists then compete against other contestants from countries such as Japan, Botswana, Australia, and Namibia, who have likewise been driving community projects in their homelands.
This year's Pageant will take place at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town from 30 November, with the Grand Finale taking place on 5 December 2015.
If you want more information about attending the Hope Pageant, you can contact Burger at [email protected]
The next projects
Through Oxbridge Academy's sponsorship, Acting Hope aims to extend its projects further on both a national and international scale, with an emphasis on providing educational opportunities to those involved.
But this partnership is not just about making education more accessible to the disadvantaged; it is also about enabling Oxbridge Academy students to get involved in Acting Hope projects in their communities and to learn more about the importance of social responsibility. The Oxbridge Academy and Acting Hope partnership is thus as much about empowering individuals as it is about giving individuals the opportunity to empower others.
For more information on Acting Hope and the Hope International Pageant, you can visit its Corporate Social Responsibility page or call it on 021 110 0200.