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I spoke with Gcinisizwe today and I have a good news story to tell you. The wind last week was very very high and as a result the roof was ripped off one of the buildings on Gcinisizwe's family's property. Luckily nobody was hurt and the roof was replaced a few days later.

Had we not have replaced some of the shacks with emergency housing I am 100% sure that these shacks would have fallen down on top of the families inside. If you recall in one case there were two families living in one shack and it was entirely help up by the door which was propped open and unable to close, very dangerous and unsafe.

So there you go, had it not been for you, the people reading this post, the people who supported my work, both with donations (big and small!) and with helping me to spread the word, there are countless families who may have perished in this latest wind storm. This is why we are need in this community, this is why we are already making a huge difference to countless families who rely on us to lift them from chronic poverty.

Thank you again, it is amazing what we have accomplished together!

Catherine

This is the house that we replaced, you can see that it was in serious trouble, ready to fall over at any moment. One man who lives here was saving money to fix it, but due to chronic poverty it would have taken him years to save enough to build something safe.

 This is the new house that we have build for the family.

Gcinisizwe speaks to our friend Nanza, a talanted carpenter who helped us on many projects. Due to the 80% unemployment rate Nanza had a very very difficult time finding work, employment through The Themba Development Project helped him to put food on his family's table.

Media, media and more media!!

A big thank you to CBC, Haligonia, Seaside FM, and the Halifax Magazine for all media coverage I have received since returning home. Through these interviews we are effectively giving the people of Thembalethu and Nqiningana a voice, their stories will be heard after a long fight against Apartheid.

On Friday I had a really wonderful interview with Mark Kelley, award winning journalist with CBC who has his own show which is broadcast all across Canada, Connect With Mark Kelley. We enjoyed a gorgeous sunny day outside on my patio while Mark interviewed me, trying to gain a better understanding of what makes me tick and how it is that I took the step to do this difficult, and non-traditional work. He is a lovely, charismatic person and very easy to talk to. The interview will be broadcast sometime in the next 2 weeks, stay tuned! In the meantime you can read a short story that they wrote about me on their website. http://www.cbc.ca/connect/2010/08/champion-of-change-from-halifax-to-south-africa.html

Catherine Robar
Founding Director
The Themba Development Project
http://www.thembaproject.org/
http://thembaproject.blogspot.com/


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Home again

June 19, 2010 came much faster than I had wanted, after seven months living and working in Thembalethu and Nqiningana I was now packing my bags and going to the airport. I have to admit that my least favorite place on Earth is the George airport, every time I am there my heart breaks a little more, it is so hard to say goodbye and this time it was just so much worse because this time I was not only saying goodbye to amazing adventures, wonderful friends and a life changing experience, I was also saying goodbye to the love of my life and husband Gcinisizwe Noyakaza. On June 28th we were officially married and we couldn't be happier, well, except on this day when I had to get onto an airplane and once again travel across continents and go home to Canada.

My flight wasn't so bad, it was so exciting to fly over Central Africa and in particular Chad where my friend's parents are living due to the war in Darfur, Sudan. I could imagine looking down and knowing that they could see look up and see my plane flying overhead. I also met a really wonderful woman on my London-Halifax segment who was from northern England and was visiting Halifax for the first time.

When the door opened to the airplane the humid Halifax air wafted in and reminded me that the ocean was all around me again. The airport looked so tiny after being at London's Heathrow airport, but I was really impressed with the renovations, the airport is beautiful and a wonderful first impression for our city. Once again I was directed to the secondary line where I had to rip apart all of my luggage and show the customs officers the wood and other goodies that I had in my suitcase. To be honest this part doesn't stress me anymore either, I have done it so many times that now I pack my suitcases accordingly.

Halifax, wow, after spending so much time in Thembalethu my first impressions were pretty exciting. Halifax is SO green, there are trees everywhere and I think that we forget how lucky we are to live in such a lush city with such an abundance of trees and gardens. It was also really crazy to be in a place without shacks, it almost felt like something was missing but really it is such a blessing to live in a country where shacks are not acceptable. Due to our incredible social programs we can all say that we are lucky enough to live in a place where even our poorest people are still doing well in comparison to people in other countries. I also really enjoyed being in such a friendly place again, we take for granted how friendly everyone is here, people are so polite and courteous and I really missed that.

I have been rather quiet in my first two weeks home, I unfortunatly developed pneumonia so for the first week I didn't see anyone, I just spent my time sleeping and recovering. A month before I returned home I came down with a bad sinus flu and it just wouldn't go away, so I guess with the cold and the damp weather it turned into pneumonia but I didn't feel the effects until I arrive home.

So here I am, keeping very busy with media interviews and Gcinisizwe is on location in Thembalethu continuing to work on the group. I also found out this week that I have the most amount of votes in the CBC Champions for Change award which is very exciting!!!! I had an interview with Elizabeth Chiu of the CBC local news and tomorrow I have an interview with CBC Radio's Information Morning. On Monday I had a wonderful interview with Ashley King of Haligonia.ca which you can check out here

http://live.haligonia.ca/halifax-ns/community/15266-video-catherine-robar-and-the-temba-development-project.html

I must tell you that this CBC competition is a big deal, nominations are still ongoing so please please take a moment to nominate me. The winner of this award receives a $25,000 donation to their charity and a whole lot of press! You can vote for me here and email me if you have questions:

http://www.cbc.ca/change/nominate.html

So here we are, seven months passed like a blink of an eye and now I am preparing to go to Rome, Italy in October to do a Masters in Human Development and Food Security, a program that gives me the tools to combat chronic hunger and allows me to give back even more to communities such as Thembalethu. I was also given a full scholarship due to my immense amount of volunteer work!!! This too is a big deal because it is 5000 Euro that I don't need to stress about, now I just need to prepare for the high living costs of Rome for a year. I guess that karma is finally swinging my way and I am so very grateful for the opportunity to learn in the very heart of the world's food security community, Rome.