Situated in one of the poorest squatter areas of South Africa and surveyed as one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence areas in Cape Town, the ensuring of food security through different types of interventions permeate the entire spectrum of activities, the Lutheran Community Centre offers to the community of Philippi, namely: (1) Nutrition, (2) Health, (3) Education (4) income generating projects, and (5) Spare time.
Sithembele Ndenetya and his common law wife Neliswa live in a shack across the road and have been able to survive with the help of our centre. Sithembele’s first wife died of AIDS related deceases in 2001 and leaving him with two children.
Living with HIV and having TB, he could not work and therefor had no income. After his shack had burned down he and his children became a burden to struggling family members. He and Ndenetya were in dire straits when they arrived at our centre to ask for help. Both underwent training in beadwork and were thus able to have income and start a new life. After receiving anti-retroviral treatment, Sithembele was able to work as a bricklayer again and helped build our training workshops for motor mechanics and solar technicians. He currently works as a security guard at the centre’s new vocational training centre. They have three little children and enjoy a harmonious and stable family life together.
Income through beading
Forty families are provided with monthly provisions of staple food parcels, however in order to receive this they are invited to take part in workshops on different subjects like raising children, prevention of HIV etc. In addition to anti-retroviral tratment, the AIDS patients in the centre‘s care are provided with nutritious food.
Working together to grow vegetables to feed our families
Children at preschool are nourished by the benefits of the Soup Kitchen
The Soup Kitchen is one of the most important income generating program for unemployed young mothers who are living with HIV. These programmes offered them the opportunity to work so that they could provide for their families. The programme has unfortunately not been able to secure any orders and the centre appeals to the readers of this article to consider giving them work by ordering the very beautiful beadwork and/or bags.
The partnership between iThemba Labantu and LUCSA HIV-AIDS Program began around 1992 with a seed grant for a vegetable garden. Since then, LUCSA has continued to support iThemba Labantu with workshops for persons living with HIV and other projects in their efforts to make a positive difference in their community.
