She once took part in the Puls4 show “Austria’s Next Topmodel” and worked as a model in the following years. Sonja Plöchl (24), from Freistadt, has been volunteering for an aid project in South Africa for a month. Every afternoon until the beginning of March, she and her friend Henry Overkamping look after children from the village of Isithumba near Durban and devise a program for them.
While working, she met the local kindergarten teacher. At lunch, she told Plöchl that there is actually a need for care for around 60 children in Isithumba every day. However, there is not nearly enough space in the few square meters of the building in which the facility is now housed. The construction of a new building has already begun, but there is not enough money to continue. “I felt the need to help,” says the 24-year-old. To make the construction of the new building possible, she started a fundraiser on a crowdfunding website. “The kindergarten is important for both the parents and the children,” she says.
school leaving certificate for mothers
Teenage pregnancies are common in South Africa. Because many facilities that educate young people and distribute contraceptives had to close, the number of pregnant teenagers increased again during the pandemic. Two thirds of young people do not return to school after the birth of their children. “For the young mothers, care facilities such as kindergarten are often the only way to complete their training,” says Plöchl.
The new building should also offer better conditions for the children. “The kindergarten should be a safe environment in which the children can have wonderful experiences. In addition, education begins in kindergarten,” says the 24-year-old.
She has supported numerous aid projects around the world in the past. Modeling was her big dream. “But then I realized that that didn’t fulfill me. That’s how I started traveling,” says the sister of Song Contest candidate Lukas Plöchl. In recent years, she has supported aid projects all over the world, for example in India and Bulgaria.
The aid project in Isithumba has already got off to a good start: around 3,600 euros have already been collected to finance the roof, the interior fittings, the sanitary facilities and the work of the construction workers. A total of 6000 euros are needed. “We are happy about any amount that we can help the children with,” says Sonja Plöchl.
For more information and a way to donate, go to betterplace.me with the search term “Completion of a kindergarten in South Africa”.
Source: Nachrichten
