Ikamva Labantu:
In 2007 ANSA International partnered with an organization in Cape Town, South Africa called Ikamva Labantu (it means the future of our nation in Xhosa). IL was started by Helen Lieberman 45 years ago during the time of apartheid. Helen started working with women in the poverty stricken townships around Cape Town. IL is an umbrella organization working with and assisting various sectors of the population: children, youth, families, seniors and those physically challenged. In October, ANSA did a site visit to IL to review the current programs and discuss going forward for 2010. Since I am currently the interim director of ANSA it was my responsibility to set up the itinerary and organize the program for the week. There were four people total. Three people from Seattle (including a state senator) and one person from Boston. We spent the first two days visiting the programs in the townships starting with creches (day care centers), care givers (foster mothers with up to 11 children) and senior centers. IL is in the process of building a wellness centre in Khayelitsha (a township with over 750, 000 people and an HIV+ rate of over 20%) which will benefit the community by sponsoring a daily meal to providing training on food safety and security. There will be access to health services and the ability to be referred to a specialist. The wellness centre will be called Enkululekweni, Xhosa for Freedom. You can learn more about Ikamva Labantu by visiting their website at: www.ikamva.org. ANSA also met with TAC (Treatment Action Campaign), spent time at the JL Zwane Center, visited HOPE, a program for HIV+ children at Tygerberg Hospital and met with the woman at Monkeybiz. It was a very busy week for the ANSA team but they were able to visit the many beautiful tourist sites of Cape Town also.Hope Initiative:
The other organization ANSA partnered with in 2007 was Hope Initiatives in Windhoek, Namibia. I did blog about HISA when I was there in February. That time I was visiting as a representative of Open Arms, this time I was representing the ANSA International Program. ANSA sponsors a nutrition program for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC's), HIV/AIDS Support Group and carers (the carers are the woman who look after the orphan children), the salary for the nutritionist and two community gardens. Early November I traveled to Namibia to meet with Patricia Sola and John Mafukidze who founded HISA in 2004. There was only one other ANSA member besides me, Doug Gosling, a master gardener from Sonoma County, CA. Doug was also on the visit in February where he and a few others constructed the first community garden. Doug trained the garden team about crop rotation, insects, fertilizer, irrigation and composting. On arriving to Kilimandjaro (the site of the food program and the community gardens) we were amazed at what we saw. The garden was beautiful. We had been told that the garden was producing vegetables for use in the kitchen but until you actually see what was being harvested it is hard to believe. The garden is helping to feed over 650 children and adults a day. The purpose of this trip was to construct a second community garden and to review the existing programs. Doug started working with the garden team in preparing the ground for planting. It took less than two weeks to complete the garden along with a beautiful stone walkway and planter area. It was a very productive week and I look forward to seeing the second garden flourish.
Tomorrow is December 1, World AIDS Day. Open Arms will be providing food parcels to 250 people; members of the HIV/AIDS Support Group, orphan children, senior citizens and members of the Guguletu community. Each $40 parcel contains enough food for a family of seven for a month. It is not too late to purchase a food parcel, log on to the Open Arms website at: www.openarmsmn.org. (Sorry, you know I always have to plug OA and their programs!)
Photos: 1. Ikamva Labantu and ANSA Team: Me, Ishrene (CEO, IL), Eileen (Community Servings, Boston), Helen (Founder and Honorary President, IL), (back row) Ed Murray (State Senator Seattle), Steve (Congressional Hunger Center), Eric (Board Chair: Lifelong AIDS Alliance, Seattle), David (Executive Director: Lifelong, Seattle), Lulama (Nutritionist, IL)
2. Creche
3. Original garden Feb. 2009 Namibia
4. Original garden Nov. 2009 Namibia
5. John and Patricia, founders of HISA
Bye for now...
