Gallery 3 — The Sound of a Smile Program

THE SMILE CENTER

Since 2018, the Sound of a Smile Program has been operating in Kurland Village, South Africa, assisting in three main areas; Education, Youth Development, and Community Outreach. Since becoming a 501-c3 registered non profit in 2022, we have been able to expand our presence and our impact in Kurland. Over the last two years, with the help of the Kurland community, we have started an after school community center called the “Smile Center’.” The Smile Center offers free tutoring, homework assistance and weekly meals for Kurland’s youth. We procure learning programs in English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa for children ages 3 to 16. Providing free wifi, tablets, a projector for movies and a library with over 500 books, the Centre has become a staple in the community. We collect donations year round of clothes, books, athletic equipment, education supplies and more that are distributed within the community. The facility is run and managed by Venia & Lorna and operates five days a week, fifty weeks a year. On any given day we host twenty to sixty children and have upwards of five adult volunteers helping with homework, sports and cognitive games with the kids.

HOUSING IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

In 2023, we started Kurland’s “Housing Improvement Project.” Working alongside Kurland residence we highlighted the need for home renovation within the community. For those who have jobs, the average daily income in Kurland hovers around 200 ZAR, or $12 USD, leaving a large population of the village in harsh living conditions. These conditions include dilapidated homes, leaky roofs, failing or leaning walls and unsafe structural beams. Most of these homes range in size from 8’ x 8’ to 20’ by 20’ built from wood, concrete block, or a mixture of both housing upwards of six people. We opened an application forum to allow residence to apply for the project and have received 106 applicants in just 5 day. Since starting the project, we have refurbished, renovated and rebuilt over 75 homes in Kurland including 6 full rebuilds from the ground up. We have a full construction team made up of five local carpenters and finish concrete laborers that work with us year round.

FOOD SECURITY PROGRAM

Since 2022, we have been assisting in numerous outlets to get food into the community. With South Africa’s current unemployment rate and job scarcity, getting meals into the community is extremely important. We began working in two existing soup kitchens, prepping, cooking, and dishing out plates for those in need. Over the past 2 years we have evolved our program into funding, managing and assisting in six soup kitchens dispersed across the village. Run by six groups of ladies from Kurland; The Lithemba Bafazi ladies, Rose, Masi, Vuyo, Amanda, and the smile center staff we have been serving anywhere from 500-600 meals every week.