The "Wheelbarrow Saint" & The Development of Ikhayalethemba Village

In 2001 Mama Lumka began providing residential care for 16 disabled and able-bodied children in her own home in Nomzamo, Somerset West. Some of the children she cared for were disabled, some of them were HIV+ and some of them were AIDS orphans. All of them had been abused, neglected, abandoned and/or left by their parents. All of them had nowhere else to go. Having experienced “home” with Mama Lumka, none of them wanted to go anywhere else.

In 2002 a group of business people identified Mama Lumka’s efforts as ones that need to be supported and enlarged upon. The Nceduluntu Sanctuary Trust was established. In the Nomzamo and Lwandle communities (situated just outside of Somerset West in the Western Cape) there are no formal facilities for vulnerable children. This led to the current initiative which has seen the Trust acquire a new area of land some 5000m2, on which foster homes could be built, each accommodating six children with 2 caregivers and a house mother. The capital campaign will see the construction of a Sanctuary with 10 houses, an Educare Centre, a job creation/training workshop, and a food garden. This means that Nceduluntu will be providing a vital service for the current and anticipated problems in this community by addressing the needs of the orphaned and vulnerable children, the needs of children within the community for pre-school education as well as parents who need skills training to become employed and provide for their families. It is hoped that the success of this project will lead to the model being implemented in other communities around South Africa.

In September 2004 the first 2 homes on the Sanctuary site, named Ikhayaletemba Village by the local community, were occupied. Ikhayaletemba means Home of Hope.

For years Mama Lumka has been undertaking her work quietly and diligently. She is overjoyed about the developments that have issued from her original charitable action. Her vision for the Sanctuary is , in her own words, “to take care of those who have no-one to love them, who need a haven from abuse and neglect, who have special needs that only someone who loves them like a mother can see to”. Her vision for the Educare Centre is that “all our pre-school children will be nourished in body, mind and spirit by quality care and genuine love”. Of the skills training, she says “People can face the future and feel affirmed, if they have a means of earning an honest living for themselves. Everyone needs a chance”.

What began as a seed in Mama Lumka’s heart is growing into a project beyond her wildest expectations to embrace the lives of so many children and consequently the future of our wonderful country.