In my short time here at Nkosi's Haven I have had the opportunity to witness first hand the amazing work that this organization does and the tirelessness of its staff and volunteers. Nkosi's Haven was inspired by a little boy who changed a lot of people's lives and their lives. Nkosi Johnson worked throughout his short life of 12 years to educate people about AIDS and those living with it. You can read more about Nkosi here. June 1st, 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of Nkosi's death and to honour his legacy we have embarked on a fund-raising campaign. I would now like to take the opportunity to speak from personal experience about the need here and tell you some ways your donation would be spent.
The current and most urgent need for Nkosi's Haven is heaters. It may seem crazy to Canadians that winter in South Africa is cold, but it really is! The past two days I've spent all day wearing a coat and my fingers are freezing as I type. The cottages are not insulated and so children are currently sleepy with hot water bottles, which don't hold much heat.
Another important need currently is funds to fix the transport. Since I arrived a month ago both the large vans to drive the kids to and from school, therapy off-site and to take them on day trips have been broken. This has made it very challenging day to day and we are currently relying on the kindness of friends of Nkosi's Haven.
While these are short term needs there are many long term ones including the development of the farm that Nkosi's Haven has recently purchased to produce food and revenue for all our sites, expand our recently started jewellery project that allows the mothers to earn their own income and maintaining the current level of care at all our sites.
I can personally see that the money that Nkosi's Haven has is being well spent but the number of people living with AIDS and in need of care greatly surpasses our current capacity. I know that most of those reading this blog are students and don't have much to give but every little bit counts and as Nkosi himself said "Do all you can with what you have, in the time you have, in the place you are."
Thank you for taking the time to read this and anything you can give is really, truly appreciated.
Normal programming will resume next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment