Executive Summary

Most of the people living in Nomzamo and Lwandle are employed in the Helderberg Basin. The main source of employment is currently in the building industry. Many people arriving in the townships come from the Eastern Cape ion search of work but this is becoming increasingly difficult to find and it is estimated that some 60 - 65% of the potentially economically active people are unemployed resulting in all the associated problems of crime, rape, abuse and also the spread of HIV/AIDS.

With this in mind, the following statistics for 2004 presented by the Actuarial Society of Southern Africa, are startling:
· Women live on average for 48.5 years and men 52.7
· 1.1 million orphans need to be cared for with an additional 250,000 each year
· 20.2% women in their prime (15 - 49 years) are HIV+
· 512,000 people newly infected in 2004

The fact that there are no formal facilities to care for orphans and vulnerable children in Nomzamo and Lwandle should enhance an appreciation of why we feel that the work of Mama Lumka, caring for such children from her own home, needs to be supported and enlarged upon. To this end the Nceduluntu Sanctuary Trust was established which together with Mama Lumka aims to provide sanctuary to a total of 60 children in 10 homes.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide integrated, loving community-based residential and day care for HIV+ children and AIDS orphans as well as for other abandoned, abused, neglected and/or disabled children from the Nomzamo and Lwandle communities. To re-create a healthy and wholesome sense of family and community standards, ensuring that the children can have a normal childhood and can maximise their potential of becoming secure, stable and economically active individuals. To empower people involved with the Centre, as well as unemployed community members, to become as self-sufficient as possible.