Build a Home for People Living with HIV/AIDS

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.