The Friends of the Children of Southern Africa helps AIDS orphans in South Africa to find safe and loving foster homes, get back into schooling, receive anti-retroviral treatment, claim government benefits, and learn skills to get work and/or start their own small businesses. Over 3000 orphans are looked after like this, and the numbers are rising all the time.
Latest News… Latest News… Latest News…
Ingwavuma Orphan Care has been renamed 'Isibani Sethemba' which means 'Light of hope'. This has come about as the activities of the centre, based on Orphan Care, now also extends in other directions supporting the local population.
A new site for offices and hospice
Land has been purchased at a new site which will provide much needed space for larger offices and a 2 ward hospice, one for adults and one for children. Isibani Sethemba now employs over 100 people with 35 of these based in the main office.
Work to level the new 4 acre site commences in 2011
Land at the new site:
The new centre is anticipated to cost 3 million rand (approximately £300,000), which means that we are now entering an important phase of fund-raising required to ensure the construction phases complete in good time.
The new buildings are to be made of rammed-earth bricks using local soil and clay mixed with lime to create a strong building block, similar to a concrete block.
This technology has been proven to work well and will help provide local employment during the building phases. The brick-making machine has been purchased and will be used on this and future building projects, helping to generate income and improvements to the deprived local economy.
2010 has been a year of planning for the future. The work of Ingwavuma Orphan Care has grown rapidly and has now out grown its' current space. Following a search for suitable land a site for a new centre was purchased; this site is near a road and an existing school and is well located for people to arrive from a wide area of isolated homesteads:
Site plans are now at an advanced stage and will include separate hospices for both young and old, and also provide facilities for families to be together and stay whilst family members are supported through final stages of life.
The estimated construction cost of the new centre is £300,000 and we would welcome your support to enable this work to progress. To help support the work at Ingwavuma Orphan Care please go to How Can I Give?