Kids for a Cause: Brooklyn Kids Give Back in South Africa

Written by Marketing Intern Rose Provine

Malaak Compton-Rock, avid philanthropist and wife of comedian Chris Rock, has been assisting and funding Bushwick, Brooklyn students to travel to South Africa to help the impoverished and the AIDS orphans.

Compton-Rock is doing more than just assisting the less fortunate in South Africa. You can even say that she is killing two birds with one stone. The kids are sent to South Africa to volunteer in order to help the struggling nation, but what most aren't aware of is that these volunteers are facing their own struggles.

Bushwick, located five miles from Manhattan, is a community of approximately 109,000. According to CNN's Soledad O'Brien, "For years it was a community with a thriving drug trade, severely under-achieving schools, extreme poverty and a staggering rate of teenage pregnancy. It was ravaged by fires and looting during the summer of 1977 and hit hard by the crack epidemic in the 1980s."

The children participating in this program are at-risk youth, meaning they are in greater danger of having babies as teenagers, of never finishing high school or achieving their dreams, or never knowing the world beyond their neighborhood. 

Thirty of these children, ages 12 to 16, were paired with college-aged mentors and brought to South Africa to help with the highest, HIV-infected population in the world. Not only are they making a difference there, but these youth are broadening their horizons and getting a better perspective on their own lives. 

Compton-Rock believes that traveling opens up your life and gives you a sense of confidence. It is her hope that by participating in this program, these kids will rise above the Bushwick stereotypes and statistics, and start to lead positive and fulfilling lives.

To find out how you can help the children of Brooklyn and South Africa, please visit The Angel Rock Project's Web site.