Dear Impact Fam,
Like everywhere, it has been a very challenging time in Southern and Eastern Africa. However, it’s because of the generosity of our donors that we have been able to quickly adjust our plans and continue supporting our communities and teams. Thank you for showing us that it’s possible to make impact from anywhere in the world. We are so for your undying support, whether near or far.
This fight is long from over - daily COVID-19 cases across the continent are still rising, but we hope with you by our side that we will be able to make it through anything that comes our way. To continue helping our communities and teams, please make a donation here.
In the past 5 months, we have:
THANK YOU, a million times over!
Ps – Have you read our 2019 Annual Report yet? The stories in this little book of impact remind us that there is so much to fight for beyond this pandemic. Check it out here!
To Our African Impact Foundation Family,
I hope this message finds you healthy and happy. It is difficult to stay positive during these tough times, however I myself have gotten through this time by thinking about the incredible impact you have all made and will continue to make on the people and environment across the African continent.
For a lot of the communities we work with, there is unfortunately a lack of awareness around how contagious and serious the virus is, and everyone's susceptibility to it. A lot of lost jobs is leading to an increase in food insecurity, and little access to healthcare is concerning for many.
African Impact has had to go into a temporary hibernation due to travel bans, however the Foundation is committed to staying present in the communities by continuing critical activities and providing COVID-19 support - handing out disinfectant packages, setting up hand washing stations, continuing nutrition programs, translating information posters into local languages, and keeping in touch with beneficiaries via telephone where possible.
To better support organizations, GlobalGiving has recently modified their Terms and Conditions to allow us to use any unspent donations from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020 on our most urgent needs during this difficult time. With a shift in priorities and situation, we hope to use the money raised to re-hire staff on the ground to carry out critical activities under the Foundation while African Impact is in hibernation.
Your support means so much to us and we look forward to continuing this journey with you. To say thank you, we wrote a little song for you: Watch the video here!
Kind regards,
Sarah Nielsen
African Impact Foundation
Impact Manager
PS – We’ve created a Foundation Facebook Group to stay connected, spread positivity, and share project updates. Come join the fun!
Thank you to everyone who has donated to the Rural Zululand Medical and Home Based Care Project in the St.Lucia area. Without your support, many people would not receive the lifesaving medical attention they need!
In the last quarter of 2019 our medical project staff and volunteers were able to do 92 home-based care visits. They also held 3 workshops on gender-based violence, HIV/AIDS, and sexual health, with a total attendance of 262. All of these workshops were requested from important stakeholders in our communities so we are delighted that they proved to be a success!
Tim recently came to volunteer with a group of fellow nursing students, and wanted to share his experience:
“Our goal is to provide medical services and health education to the local Zulu communities, while learning how the health care system operates in South Africa.
With African Impact, we provide home care, wound care, physiotherapy, home assistance, support groups, and clinical transfers to the local villages. The care we provide is minimal, but the patients are ecstatic for the help we give. I have never seen such joy emitted from receiving something as simple as a small bag of Tylenol. Gradually, African Impact is building up education and health care opportunities that the local communities would otherwise not have access to. From my time volunteering for two weeks, the one word I would use to describe St Lucia's surrounding communities is beautiful - not just the land but mainly the people. They are so happy, welcoming, and hopeful. Their love for each other and visitors such as ourselves is enough to melt anyone's heart.”
Reflecting back on 2018, our medical program has completed incredible impacts on ground – all due to generous donors like yourself. The medical and home based care project allows for our patients to receive the best care we can possibly give them and hopefully more. Due to the lack of resources in the clinics or lack of transportation for patients to get to the clinics, we are able to try and fill that gap and provide resources where needed.
Each medical project looking different, whether it is nutrition program, physio, home based care or women’s support groups, our end goal is to improve the general health of the community.
We are constantly looking to improve our projects in making sure they are as sustainable as possible. One of the largest changes this year was providing gardens for our medical patients so they have access to healthy food in their own backyard. Our amazing women’s support group would grow seedlings for all these patients and deliver them to their new home gardens. The patient or the patient’s family members living at home would be trained to make the garden as sustainable as possible.
As we are wrapping up 2019, we are also going to be wrapping up this 2018 fundraising page. But not to worry! We will be launching a new one next year with bigger and greater ideas – so do stay in touch!
As for what was accomplished this year, a HUGE thank you to all the incredible donors who allowed us to sustain the project and provide medical support to hundreds of patients in the St. Lucia communities.
Home Based Care in St. Lucia recently was re-evaluated to make sure the project is absolutely sustainable and to have a long term impact! In return, a majority of our home based care patients now have small vegetable gardens which are maintained by the family members and support of the African Impact volunteers. Additionally, it has been wonderful to see one of our Women's Support group (Ezwenalisha group) also grow seedlings in their vegetable garden to support these medical patients.
Since the beginning of June, we have fenced five in home gardens including the transplant of seedlings. Of the six different seeds (carrots, lettuce, spinach, beetroot, cabbage, onion) planted in the Ezwenalisha garden last month we were able to transplant both beetroot and spinach this month. We're planting roughly 40 seedlings of each crop alongside our patients in their in home gardens.
35 patients were visited in the past month and we are eager to hopefully increase our numbers next month. However, within these 35 patients, 8 were wound care and 6 were physiotherapy.
We visited six homes in the month of June. Volunteers assisted in cleaning around the house including sweeping and mopping, picking up rubbish outside, preparing and cooking food for the week, and fetching water for families. In addition, we completed two small building and refurbishment project. These included repairing the fire damage and painting in the Councilor’s office, along with cementing outside stairs for a blind couple.
Overall, we are very impressed with the progression of Home Based Care and excited to watch all their gardens prosper. Thanks to everyone who has kept in touch and if you wish to assist in setting up a garden, please get in touch!
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