The Umtwalume area is typically beautiful with rolling hills of grass or sugarcane dotted with round huts and acacia trees. It is amidst this beauty that apartheid, poverty, and now AIDS have caused suffering and dislocation. The unemployment rate is well above 50 percent, leaving many extended family members and neighbors dependent on single breadwinners. There are few parents left, with 40.1 percent of pregnant women in this province being HIV positive. Many of the children in the Thanda After-School Project live with their grandparents now.
The Thanda After-School Project teachers get to know their students very well through household surveys, one on one talks, and feedback from their school teachers. The Thanda ASP teachers are able to identity problems in the household (such as food insecurity, illness, abuse, lack of government grants) as well as individual problems (illness, emotional damage, eyesight problems). Our experienced community coordinator makes frequent home visits to their families to further investigate the issues and talk with the family members about general issues of health, safety, and care. Thanda ASP helps these families on a discretionary basis and tries to get to the root of the problem (unemployment, lack of official documents). We work together with the families to find long-term solutions that are both sustainable and replicable.
We are currently working on a small income generation program for the grandmothers of our students which will enable them to sell their beadwork at a new craft market on Saturdays and through our own Tanda Zulu jewelry enterprise. We will soon start a community food garden program for these grandparents as well. Our community assistance program presently focuses only on the families of our students, but we hope to expand to the general community over time and as funds become available.
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