FAMILY INTEGRATION PROGRAMME
Community Care Centres purchased a house for iThemba Lethu right next door to our current home in Manor Gardens. They have agreed to lease the house to us as their commitment to the work that we are involved in. iThemba Lethu now takes care of an additional 6 babies at any one time - babies who have been orphaned or abandoned as a result of HIV/AIDS. We are providing them with the medical care and love necessary to restore them. We will continue to undertake to find adoptive or foster families with whom to permanently place these babies. Our social worker screens all potential families and facilitates the transition into and out of the iThemba Lethu home.
The iThemba Lethu Breastmilk Bank was set up to meet the health needs of infants at the iThemba Lethu transition home. The vision was to start a community-based breastmilk bank which could supply breastmilk to AIDS orphans. As a pilot project it has grown and a dedicated area for pasteurising the donated milk and storing it has now become necessary. The new house has the facility for this expansion. The single garage that came with this home has been transformed into a clinical laboratory. In this lab we have two chest freezers, a pasteuriser and storage room for all the equipment.
In the last few months we have:- employed 3 new staff members: a housemother, an overnight caregiver and a housekeeper
- renovated the 3 bedroom home and made it comfortable for the babies
- secured the property (fence and security system)
- landscaped the garden and extended the driveway for secure off-road parking
- furnished the home and most exciting of all - we have welcomed new babies into the house!
HIV PREVENTION PROGRAMME
This year we have seen unprescendented growth in the HIV Prevention Programme as the curriculum has been expanded to an additional two schools in Cato Manor. The inclusion of these two schools has resulted in a doubling of the number of children impacted in the community, and a far greater reach into the community with over 600 households now being included in the Parent Programme. With this expansion came the hiring and training of additional youth workers and team leaders.
We have therefore continued to work in Wiggins and Mayville Primary schools with the Grade 6 children this year, and in addition have started working with all the Grade 5 pupils at Nsimbini and Christopher Nxumalo schools. These classroom sessions began on 4 February 2008. We continue to use the iThemba Lethu curriculum which was developed and edited by our staff. Each youth worker has a Facilitator’s manual and each child receives and Learner’s workbook.
