Your donations at work

A few days ago I asked Gcinisizwe about the progress of the gardens in Thembalethu and he became so excited, he said "Sisi (a term of respect), your won't believe your eyes, the gardens are growing like crazy!"

I was absolutely delighted to receive a new batch of photos from Gcinisizwe this morning to prove that he wasn't kidding! Keep in mind that these gardens were made possible entirely due to your generosity. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated to this project!

This woman had no garden when I first met her and her family was really struggling
to find enough food. Look at her now! Her garden is such a source of pride and as you can see your
donations have made a really big impact to her family.

Tending to the garden.
With 80% unemployment in Thembalethu maintaining a vegetable garden is not only good for the
health of the family, it is also good for the spirit and mind. Vegetable gardens give people a
positive outlet for their energy and help them to feel as though they are a valued, contributing
member of the family and community.

Corn, spinach and what I think might be squash with the pretty yellow flowers?

What was once a vacant plot is now a thriving vegetable garden!

Potato flowers basking in the South African sun

Fresh spinach, Gcinisizwe's favorite! Right after taking this picture
he then watered the garden using irrigation equipment provided by The Themba Development Project.
This is one of the reasons why the gardens are doing so well this year!

This is what love looks like.

When I learned that I was accepted to study Human Development and Food Security in Rome I was both very excited and also a bit nervous. How could I continue running the organization while so far away? Well the answer was right in front of me the whole time. My very good friends Hilary and Miranda stepped up without being asked and volunteered to help me with the work load. I have to say that I have been so overwhelmed with their kindness, I have no idea how I will ever repay them.

The Themba Development Project is staffed entirely by volunteers, the reason for this is that we are so blessed in life and we want to ensure that every penny makes it to Thembalethu and Nqiningana. That said, it is amazing how ordinary people are willing to give up so much of their precious time to help people on the other side of the world that they have never met. Without the helps of my friends and loved ones there is no way that we would have been so successful. A special thank you to all of you who have helped me to make this organization so successful, and that includes my mother who has been incredibly helpful with the accounting needs of the organization.

There are no words big enough to properly thank all of you, but please know that if I ever win the lottery you will be top of my list of people to share with xoxox.

Hilary and Miranda at the Seaport Market. Due to their hard work the
2010 Christmas Card Campaign has been the most successful year to date.

They created such a beautiful display, including hand made
neckalaces from the ladies in Thembalethu.

Hand-made Christmas cards made by Hilary and Miranda.
Thank you for all your hard work ladies!



The look at reality

I just wanted a very interesting video on Al Jazerra News. Take a moment to watch it, very eye opening and important to gaining a perspective of life on the ground in South Africa

Australia and South Africa unite

Stephanie Caldow impressed me even on the first day that I met her, she is certainly not your ordinary
person, she is full of life, passion and she is not afraid to take on the world. When she recently contacted me to tell me about her new goal I wasn't actually surprised, but I was knocked out of my chair when she told me that it will effect The Themba Development Project.

Stephanie Caldow, an Australian citizen and former resident of Canada has made the decision to run her first Marathon in May of the coming year. Although most people would have chosen something easy, Stephanie has chosen to run the Great Wall of China marathon which includes 5164 steps. She is doing all of this to raise funds and awareness for our work, so that more people are made aware of the struggles of people in South Africa, and so that hopefully we can raise more funds to continue and expand our work.

Stephanie is nothing short of inspirational, follow her experiences on her blog
http://stephsgreatwall.wordpress.com

If you would like to contribute to this cause you can donate using canadahelps.org, type Themba in the search bar.

Thank you to Stephanie, and to all of the people who support our cause.

Gcinisizwe makes the paper, again!

Wow, when I met Gcinisizwe in 2008 he actually introduced himself as Eric, his "struggle-name" as they say in Thembalethu. Eric was a shy man who struggled his entire life and on several occasions nearly died of starvation. Flip forward to 2010 and Eric has blossomed into Gcinisizwe, the strong, proud Xhosa man that we have grown to know and love. Some time ago I actually had a little informal ceremony where I officially buried "Eric" so that he would never be heard from again. Every now and then Gcinisizwe will be in a new situation where he feels like Eric again and it is then when I whisper into his ear that Eric is buried in our garden remember? He laughs and then the fabulous Gcinisizwe returns to me.

It is amazing to me that the little boy who grew up in the height of Apartheid and has witnessed things that should not been seen by little boys has blossomed into a man that is now married to a Canadian woman, is the co-founder of a registered charity and also appears in the media frequently.

Gcinisizwe when translated into English means "Bringing the people together to work as one, regardless of race or religion". A Xhosa person is expected to live up to their name and that is exactly what Gcinisizwe has done. He recently escorted a team of journalists through the streets of Thembalethu and the photographs that were taken are nothing short of inspirational. A big thank you to Michelle Pienaar from the George Herald for her commitment to improving the lives of the people in Thembalethu through her journalistic talents.

Click here to see the beautiful photo gallery created by Michelle including lovely photos of our very own Gcinisizwe Noyakaza.

http://www.georgeherald.com/gallery.aspx?gpid=229&gid=1

Report from Nqiningana

As you may have heard, Gcinisizwe's brother passed away suddenly not so long ago, he was only 39. As a result Gcinisizwe has now become the patriarch of the family after burying his father and 7 other siblings, now only 3 remain. These deaths were a result of chronic poverty and a reminder that we must cherish every moment and continue working on behalf of the poor, because they too deserve to have a life with opportunities.

Gcinisizwe is currently in Nqiningana for the burial of his brother and while on location has taken a moment to give us an update on the current situation.

The trees that were planted in May of this year are growing strong due to the dedication of the community members who hand water each tree. This is a relief because Nqiningana is also facing a horrific drought as they have not had a drop of rain since June of this year. Due to the lack of rainfall the village well has now run dry leaving the village with no sources of clean water. The grass in the area has died and as a result animals such as cows and sheep are also dying. As a reminder, there are no lakes, rivers or streams near the village. Currently the only source of water is a small reservoir at the base of the mountain however this water is not clean or in my opinion potable. I have pasted a picture of this water for you to see, clearly it is not of high quality.

I have been researching alternative water sources and there is one that seems promising for the region of Nqiningana and it is called Fog Harvesting. This is a process of collecting fog or cloud water droplets on a mesh fabric and directing the water to the village. More can be read about this process here:
http://www.southafrica.info/about/sustainable/fognet-270810.htm

I would like to propose that we begin fund raising for this project now. I have already begun sourcing supplies for the necessary materials. If you are interested in donating to this project please email me at thembaproject@gmail.com or donate directly with canadahelps.org  type Themba in the search bar.

Fog Harvesting has been tremendously successful in other regions similar to Nqiningana. This project could literally transform this community and finally give them a sustainable and renewable source of water.

Black Market 22nd Anniversary Charity Bash!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that my all time favorite store in Halifax is the Black Market, located on Grafton Street in Halifax. As you walk past the store you are greeted with a fabulous painted facade and you get your first smell of the lovely incense that is about to greet you. First thing you will notice when you go inside? The store is stocked floor to ceiling with unbelievably cool stuff, brought to you by the owners and staff who travel around the world to buy items and return them back to Halifax to share with us. The staff are absolutely amazing,  these are the people that you admire, and wonder how it is that any one store could ever find so many lovely people in one city.

Well on top of being a fabulous store, the owners also have a heart as each year they celebrate the anniversary of the store with a big birthday bash, AND all proceeds are donated to local charities. This year (as well as last) the owners have chosen The Themba Development Project to support! That means that each skirt, necklace or henna that you buy is actually funding a local, grass roots charity that supports two communities in South Africa.

So buy all you can people, and know in your heart that you supported local organizations trying to make a difference in the world.

Catherine Robar featured in November, 2010 issue of the Halifax Magazine!

I am so excited to inform everyone that one of my favorite publications, The Halifax Magazine will feature me in the November, 2010 issues, hitting store shelves shortly!

Be sure to pick up a copy, you can also visit the website at:

http://halifaxmag.com/

A special thank you to local journalist Chad Lucas for both a wonderful interview as well as pitching the story to the editors.

Catherine Robar, winner of Community Mentor-ship award

I am very pleased to announce that I have been honored by Big Brothers-Big Sisters for the 2010 Community Mentor-ship Awards. This special award is given to members of the community who have acted as mentors in the community. Nominations are made by the public and winners of the award are honored at the awards gala which takes place on October 22nd in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A special thank you to Abdul Abakar, his beautiful nomination is the reason why I was chosen.

For more information please see below:

http://www.bigbrothersbigsistershalifax.ca/en/home/events/catherinerobar.aspx

In 2008, Catherine Robar departed Halifax for South Africa to volunteer with a community in need. There she discovered Thembalethu, and created The Themba Development Project. The Project’s volunteers (there are no paid staff) work to improve access to food, minimize poverty, encourage education, and to develop short and long term solutions to the food crisis facing so many in South Africa.

Catherine’s impact extends beyond South Africa. Her volunteer work with Halifax’s MISA (Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association) has helped newcomers learn English, secure employment, and adjust to life in a new country, “I have faced many challenges in my life including genocide but I never thought there were still people with such a beautiful heart, like Catherine. Since I fled from Darfur over seven years ago, I never thought I could find someone who really wanted to do something better for people. When I found Catherine Robar doing such tremendous efforts for free, to help struggling people, I completely change my mind”.

When asked about mentors in her life, Catherine describes former employer, Catherine De Sua Branson, Vice President of Fraser & Hoyt Travel Management, as a woman of integrity and strength. “Although it’s been a couple years since I worked for Catherine, her teachings stick with me and I often think of her when I am facing certain situations. She taught me that a professional woman can be many things: strong, courageous and confident, but also beautiful, compassionate and a person of their word. Catherine gave me the freedom to put forth ideas, she gave me creative space, but she also provided me with guidance as to how the real world works. She reminded me about the importance of family and a close network of friends. Even Superwoman needs a balanced life, and it is just as important to be a successful business woman, as it is to be a good friend, daughter, sister and community member”.

Themba goes National

CBC is such an amazing network, I am always so pleased that they focus on promoting Canadians and are not afraid to tell good news stories. Today the CBC chose to tell my story and in short I can say that it brought tears to my eyes.

I would like to say a big thank you to the team working on Connect With Mark Kelley, they just broadcast a beautifully edited piece about my work in founding The Themba Development Project. It turns out that I have the most nominations for all people in Canada in the CBC Champions for Change award.

If you would like to see the interview but missed it visit http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/TV_Shows/Connect_with_Mark_Kelley/ID=1585258567

Your donations saving lives!

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/


Donate today, it all adds up to ending chronic poverty! http://www.canadahelps.org/
One person, One community CAN change the world, we have already begun!

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.

Zone 4 of Thembalethu receives Rain Water Collection Supplies!!

What could possibly be better than eating a fresh carrot from the garden? Well in Gcinisizwe and my eyes we think that there is nothing better than having the dignity and freedom to grow your own food and provide for your family. But what do you do during the long months with drought? You go out and buy Rain Water Harvesting Collection Systems for the community!!

Thanks to your donations we have been creating gardens and distributing seeds for over two years but each year the gardens were becoming dry and the plants were suffering as a result. This year we started fund raising so we could come up with a solution to the dry periods! We distributed 10 rain water barrels throughout the community which are each shared by more than one household. This year the families will have a back up supply of water to use during the drought which means more food to feed their families.

The kids love to play in the gardens also, these little girls now have a new water system and a new garden so that they can grow nutritous foods and have full bellies.

This gorgeous garden has been filled with our seeds, the owner of this garden cannot find work due to the 80% unemployment rate so he spends the day in the garden!

Stumo returns from the bush!

Many people may recall me mentioning that my brother Stumo was going to the bush in June, this is the most important moment of a man's life because when he returns he is officially a man in the eyes of Xhosa culture. The bush is an intimate event which are for men's eye's only so out of respect for the culture I will not go into details about what actually happens, and also because out of respect for the culture none of the men would tell me ha ha. Sadly you can google the information, someone who did not respect the ritual has posted many photos and stories for the world to see.

Stumo returned home to us on July 9th at 2pm and it was incredibly exciting! Everyone came running to our house when they saw him walking from the bush to our house, surrounded by fellow men, everyone singing and dancing and celebrating his return. For one month Stumo lived disconnected from the world, learning lessons from his male peers and enjoying the quiet sounds of nature. It must have been a bit of a shock to the system to go from such quiet surroundings into the 4 day (24 hours a day also!!) party that greeted him upon his return.

For four days we had hundreds of people at hour house, drinking beer, brandy and umqombothi (African beer). A cow was purchased for the event and slaughtered to provide an abundance of fresh meat. I should also mention here that I am a devouted vegetarian for the reasons of animal cruelty but I have to tell you that this event was very respectful of the animal. The cow was killed very quickly with a sharp slice to the throat with a sharp knife. What I love about this community is that everything and I mean everything is used with zero waste. Every part of the animal is eaten, the skin and tail are saved to make items in the future and the bones are eaten by the dogs. I really respect that, it is a far difference from the industrial agriculture that our culture is used to.

The Makoti's were kept very busy, Makoti is the term for "Young bride" which means any young woman who was close to the family was kept busy pouring drinks, cooking food, cleaning and tending to the hundreds of people. It was a little crazy really to be a Canadian makoti, I spent my entire time following the lead of my sister Nozukane, a lovely 20 year old woman married to my brother Busisani who has the maturity and respectfullness of someone decades older. Friday and Saturday I did very well, I slept a little bit during the night despite the 24 hour party happening on the other side of my door. Sunday however I struggled, underfed, under-slept and under-educated in the Xhosa language I started to feel the stress of it all.

A strange thing happens also when people drink around me here in Thembalethu. The more people drink the more I become a toy of sorts and less of a person if that makes sense. People start forgetting that I am Nosandise, the woman who has lived here and worked in the community and they start treating me like the Afrikanners of nearby George. Most everyone starts speaking Afrikaans to me (the language spoken by the white people, sounds like Dutch/German) and even though I have been here since 2008 and have told everyone over and over that I am from Canada and do not speak Afrikaans, they still speak Afrikaans to me which in short I find enraging ha ha. To be fair, I am the first person that they have ever met who is white and does not speak Afrikaans so I think they find it confusing. It is hard to explain to people who have minimal education that white people live all over the world and Afrikaans is only spoken by 7.9% of the population in a country called South Africa (and Namibia also now that I think of it). It is kind of like me speaking swahili to every black person I meet because people in East Africa speak swahili so therefore every black person must speak swahili ha ha ha, I try to keep a sense of humor about it.....

But all in all I must say that it was very exciting to have Stumo home, I really missed him a lot. On Saturday he sat in a shack outside and everyone at the party had the chance to say a few words to him, he sat with his head covered, wearing just his blanket. It was then that I started crying, I really missed him, more than I even realized.

All of the ladies came dressed in their beautiful culture dresses, I swear I spent hours saying "WOW your dress is amazing!!"

The lovely Zolani (standing) and Busisani

Having some laughs, the lady in the green was so funny ha ha

The point I realized that the brandy and beer were working on the men ha ha, the guys insisted that I take this picture, and it turned out wonderfully! This is the house that Stumo was sitting inside of as we all went in to give him our words of advice on being a man.

The lovely Stumo, painted red to show that he is a new man and wearing his lovely blanket. To the right is my friend Nanza who day in and day out looked after Stumo along with dozens of other men who would stop by to help with chores in the bush, ie: collecting native medicinal plants etc. Thank you Nanza for taking such good care of Stumo!

Some of the men who turned up for the party, the men sit together in one place (or in this case four differnt places because there were so many people!) and the ladies sit together in another place.

Another beautiful dress, this lady is wonderful, she is the sister of my friend KB and she is a patient and lovely soul. Her daughter was born with a physical and mental disability but due to the patience of this woman her daughter lives a wonderful life. This lady asked if there was any way for me to help her start a support group for women with disabled children...something to think about...

The men returning from the bush with Stumo at centre.

There is Stumo in the middle, wrapped in a new blanket. He is not allowed to show his face quite yet so the men guide him. Just a note, see that man who runs to the front? Yeah, he is nearly 80 years old!! A reminder to eat your vege's boys and girls!!! This man spends his days working in his garden and eats of ton of fresh produce, I first met him in 2008 at the community garden in Thembalethu, months before coming to Zone 4, who knew that one day he would be my neighbour!

Nozukane leading the ladies in a whole lot of fabulous singing to welcome Stumo home from the bush. Wow she can sing!!!

So I guess now I am a painter!

I come from a very artistic family however I have never really made time for myself to enjoy the arts. I have always wanted to take painting classes so I could learn how to paint properly however I could never afford to. It was when I was walking around in George one day that I discovered painting classes tucked away in a tiny walkway. How exciting, I can finally afford to learn painting because of the wonderful exchange rate! I have painted three paintings to date, each of them given to someone special to me. I really enjoy painting and then sharing them with someone. Most people here have nothing on their walls and to give them a hand made painting is really quite an extraordinary gift. Below are my paintings, they bring me a lot of joy and i hope they make you smile too.

My very first oil painting ever, I think it turned out really nicely! It actually looks much better in real life than this picture because the flash washed out most of the shading and detail but I think you get the idea.

This is the second oil painting that I did, it actually turned out to be very difficult but I am still happy with it. I was inspired by a trip that I did to Zanzibar in 2006. I found this lovely cafe in Stone Town and as I ate my lunch I gazed out over the ocean and watched the children swimming in the Indian Ocean. The original photograph is below and my rendition is above.

I became friends with a lovely couple from Ethiopia who live here in South Africa. They recently opened a tiny restaurant and I wanted to surprise them with a gift so I found a piece of Ethiopian Orthodox art and painted it for them. This is my favorite painting that I have ever done, not just because I am proud of it but always because there is a lot of meaning in this piece. Above is my painting, and below is the original. Who would have ever guessed that I would ever paint religous art ha ha, but it turns out that I am good at it!

My fabulous art teachers, to the right is my teacher Marty, and to my left is the lovely Esther who assits in running the shop.

You Can Heal The World!

On June 26th we had yet another fabulous drumming event in Umbambano Park and by we I mean Michele from Earth Child, myself and Daniel who is a fabulous drumming teacher. We organized it for a long time and so glad we did because we had a wonderful turn out. Fun events like this rarely ever happen in this community so it was really wonderful to bring the community together, as well as a few visitors from other communities. The lovely Michelle from the George Herald came for a visit as well and took some beautiful shots. It was the eprfect day, the sun was shining, it was warm and everyone had a chance to play and have fun in Umbambano Park.

Below are photos taken from the event but I enourage you to click on this link to see the even more beautiful photos taken by Michelle of the George Herald http://www.georgeherald.com/gallery.aspx?gpid=105&gid=5

Some of the children made home made drums and even painted them, so creative!

The girls treating us to a lovely dance!

Even the grandfathers played the drums, I couldn't believe my eyes!

Gcinisizwe plays the big drum with Daniel showing us the moves on the tiny drum!

Life on the ground

I don't really ever talk about this but in reality it is all around me, luckily, touch wood, it has not touched my family, touch touch touch more wood, but it has effected the families all around me. This reality is the HIV/AIDS epidemic which is plaguing the country of South Africa. According to the latest statistics South Africa currently has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world with 18.1% of it's population now infected with the HIV virus and an estimated 71% of all deaths being traced back to this illness. One in every 5 adults in South Africa have HIV/AIDS and 59% of women over the age of 15 are now infected.

HIV is a very silent epidemic, you do not always notice it, but what you do notice is the absurd amount of funerals that happen all the time. This weekend, just in my small area of Zone 4 there were 4 HIV related funerals. All of the now dead were young people in their 30's. One of these people was my neighbour living just 5 houses down. In one house there were 4 people with this disease, now there are three.

So although this is a sad post I hope that you can take a moment and reflect on your own life and realize just how blessed you and I are, we live in a place with food, social support systems, low crime and low disease rates. For many people around the world this sadly is not the case.

Catherine

The Realities of Thembalethu

One of my good friends and neighbours in Thembalethu is a wonderful woman that I will call Mrs. Hope. Mrs. Hope is a social worker and helps children as best as she can within the often backwards South African social services structure, limited resources, and a gigantic work load. Through Mrs. Hope I have seen a very real side of Thembalethu in which I would like to share with you.

Twenty minutes away from Thembalethu is the lovely city of George, George is a small city with lush gardens, fancy houses and clean streets. Like all places, some people struggle in George but it is easy to see that many people are also thriving. Many areas boast mansions, security guards and luxury cars. There are electric fences and tall security gates. Somehow with all this wealth just twenty minutes away the reality is very different for many people.

Today Mrs. Hope called me and in her voice I could hear deep sadness and a sense of desperation. "Sandise, I need your help, you are the first person I have called because I am not sure who else can help us". Mrs. Hope does not ask for much so I knew that it must be serious. Today a family arrived at her office doorstep, three young boys, age 15, 8 and six. These boys have just become orphans, they have lost both their mother and now their father, it was not discussed how but being that one in three black women in South Africa now have HIV and one in five men, it is most likely that their parents have died of HIV/AIDS. Now this small family of three is left with no family members and the household will be headed by this shy 15 year old boy who now stands before me. Mrs. Hope brought them to my house today, all three were shy and looked scared, but also I could see a sense of relief on their faces. They have no money, and no food, which is why Mrs. Hope brought them to me.

This little family left my house with a gigantic bag of mealie meal, rice, sugar, beans, lentils and oranges due to your generosity. As many people know, I personally do not have very much money, but through the donations that have come to me by way of The Themba Development Project I have been able to give emergency relief to some of Thembalethu most vulnerable members. Your donations have given this small family hope, or Themba in the Xhosa language. Although my charity is small we have given a huge amount of hope to this community and united we shall stand because in times of emergency the community knows that you and I are here to get them through these difficult days.

Thank you to everyone who made this miracle possible,

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

Donate using canadahelps.org type "Themba" to find our charity.

The World Cup from the inside!

I have decided that there is nothing more exhilarating in life than watching a World Cup game live. Last night Gcinisizwe and I had the opportunity to watch the France vs Uruguay match and let me tell you, it was AMAZING! The Green Point Stadium in Cape Town is beautiful and the place was packed full to the brim! Everyone was in wonderful spirits and the staff were organized, patient and friendly.

Ok, so we are just a tad excited! At least 6 times we looked at each other and yelled "WE ARE AT THE WORLD CUP!!!!!" Ha ha ha, what a dream come true.

The France and Uruguay flags being presented to the crowd.

The opening kick!

"We want peace in the World"

Even at a France-Uruguay match people are flying South Africa flags ha ha, there is a HUGE amount of national pride here.

The crappiest job at the World Cup, security on the field. Can you imagine being 10 feet from the field at the World Cup and having to sit there with your back to the field the entire time, eek!!

Now let me tell you, during my visit to the Green Point Stadium I was mugged, the robber did not have a gun or knife, but instead held me hostage until I forked over my hard earned money in exchange for a crappy AMERICAN beer. Please do not judge me but yes, I paid R30 for ONE beer!!!! Normally beer is R10!!!! And I would also like to know why South Africa has such fabulous local beers and I am sitting here drinking crappy watery Ammerican beer, come on people!!!

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Videos from the World Cup

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1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOogJaN3BKY  A view from the top of Green Point Stadium!

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkR_9whM-uo Watch a gigantic wave of people, ha ha, so fun!