Thank you and an update!

By Andrea Parmegiani - , August 27, 2008 07:07 PM

Dear Global Givers,

Once again, thank you, on behalf of all of us, for supporting our center for people living with HIV-AIDS. Our Place-Coffee Bay is currently providing a home to about twenty people, mainly children, women, teen-agers, and elderly. At Our Place these people have created a loving family structure, with adults looking after children as mother and father figures. At present, this center comprises five rooms, including the room that is being used as a kitchen. Some of these rooms consist of mud-huts with straw roofs that were built with the money that was collected through Global Giving.

We have recently added a kindergarten at our center in Coffee Bay. This new facility is providing approximately 15 young children with pre-literacy training. Some of these children are living with us full-time; some of them come for the day and go back to their families in the evening. Many of these children had never held a pencil and a piece of paper in their hands before coming to Our Place. At our kindergarten they use writing tools, they sing songs and nursery rhymes in both in their native language (isiXhosa) and English, and they gain familiarity with the alphabet and numbers. These activities increase dramatically these children’s chances of succeeding in school. In addition, our kindergarten ensures that even the children who do not live with us full-time receive at least one balanced meal every day. Sadly, it is not uncommon for the children of the area not to be fed on a daily basis, as many families have to subsist without an income.

Since our last update, we have also started a vegetable garden for the community. This project is a step towards making Our Place more self-sustainable, as food is a big part of our operating costs. In addition, the garden is a very important resource for several families living in the area. The men and women who help us farm the land receive a stipend, in addition to a share of the harvest.

In terms of construction work, we have built three toilets, put in water tanks to cut down on the cost of water supply, and put a fence around the property to protect the younger children. We have also rebuilt and strengthened the roofs of our buildings, which were blown off by a storm last November.

Our goal is to continue growing, as the need for food, shelter, palliative care, and a caring family structure is immense in the area. We need to strengthen our presence in Coffee Bay also because, by living with dignity, our people are role models in the fight against the stigma of HIV-AIDS in the community. Fighting the stigma is essential, as many of the victims of the pandemic are subjected to discrimination and abuse.

Thank you for supporting us, from all of us, from the bottom of our hearts.
Andrea Parmegiani

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An Update on Our Project

By Andrea Parmegiani - Public Relations Coordinator, January 02, 2008 05:46 PM

Dear donors,

Thanks to the generosity of all of you, we have lots of good news. In addition to the money donated through GlobalGiving, Friends of Our Place has raised $5000 with a charity dinner that was held in New York on December 1. A few weeks later, Amici di Deon, the Italian non-profit whose mission is to ensure the growth of centers, raised over 3000 Euro. A good part of this money was donated by children attending Italian public schools who have sponsored the children living at our homes for people living with AIDS in South Africa.

The money collected in New York has already been sent to South Africa, and it has been used to expand the new center of Coffee Bay, Transkei. This center, which was opened with the first donations received through GlobalGiving last spring, is already housing 20 women and children that have been abandoned because of poverty and HIV-AIDS. Part of this money had to be used to rebuild roofs which were blown off by a storm in November. However, we have also begun buiding new huts. Each new hut costs approximately $300 and can provide a home to up to 8 people. Our goal is to provide a home to 80 more people, especially children, because the need for food, shelter, palliative care, and a caring family structure is immense in the area.

The money collected in Italy will be used to support the hospice of Bloemfontein, which is currently providing a home to 40 people who have been abandoned by their families at various stages of the disease. Fifteen of these people are children. Part of the funds raised will help Our Place pay for the mortgage of the building where the hospice is located. The rest of the money wlll be used to buy food for the residents and to make sure our children can attend school. This entails paying for books, compuslory uniforms, and school fees.
We need to expand this center too, because in Bloemfontein, just like in Coffee Bay, the need for a home to come to for people who have lost everything because of HIV-AIDS is immense.

Please help us grow with your donations and by spreading the word about the good work we are doing with your support. Thanks again, on behalf of all of us, for having made it possible for all our people to live with dignity, as human beings, within a caring family structure.

Andrea Parmegiani
Public Relations Coordinator

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Home for 50 people living with HIV soon to be opened

By Andrea Parmegiani - Project Leader, August 13, 2007 05:19 PM

Two weeks after posting its newest project, Our Place received a $10.000 donation for the creation of a new home for 50 people who have lost everything because of HIV-AIDS. Thanks to Global Giving and an anonymous donor with a heart of gold, this home will be soon be a reality.

The need to create foster homes for people infected and affected by the HIV-AIDS pandemic is immense in this part of the world. South Africa has the highest rate HIV infection on the planet, and in Matokazini, a rural area close to the village of Coffee Bay, Transkei, the situation is particularly desperate. More and more people, especially children, find themselves without a home and a support system because of the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic. In a subsistence economy, where employment opportunities are minimal, it is becoming increasingly difficult for orphans to be adopted by their extended families because these families are too poor and are already looking after numerous relatives who are suffering from the disease.

Also, desperation, coupled with the stigma attached to HIV-AIDS, often results in abuse against those who are most vulnerable. It is not uncommon for women, children, and elderly people to have suffered rape, beatings, confinement, and deprivation of food and water before beginning a new life at our centers.

Our Place has been planning the opening of a new center in Transkei for several years, but the lack of capital had been an insurmountable obstacle. Nevertheless, Our Place embarked on this project a few months ago by buying on credit a plot of land with a small concrete building and four mud huts. “We are a faith based initiative,” explains Deon Mulder, founder of Our Place. “I had no idea where the money to pay for all this was going to come from, but I knew that this project had to be done and so I put my trust in the Universe.” It is probably no coincidence that a few weeks later, Our Place discovered Global Giving by word of mouth.

The $10.000 we have raised so far will pay for the property and for the construction work that will make the buildings inhabitable. This work has already begun, creating employment for eight community members whose families will now be able to count on a basic income. We will also be able to bring water to the property and to build a fence for a vegetable garden and to keep chicken. Thanks to the progress we have made, we might be able to start operating very soon

But there is a lot that remains to be done. The buildings that will have at present will only accommodate 20 people. We need to make room for at least 50 as soon as possible. We also need to create a kindergarten not only for the children who will be living with us, but also for those who are still able to live with their families but cannot afford school fees and proper nutrition. As soon as we receive the funds, we will make sure these children receive balanced meals and to pre-school training.

We have no words to express our gratitude to the person who has given us such a generous donation. However, we would like to emphasize we would be extremely grateful for smaller donations too because they make a huge difference. Ten dollars are enough to buy enough milk and formula to feed 8 babies for a day; Fifty dollars make it possible to feed 25 people with 3 balanced meals for a day. It only takes 300 dollars to build a hut for 8 people.





Attachments:

• The rural area where we are opening the new home
• The buildings that we are renovating
• A child of the area that is part of our family

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