Help for children in Hluvukani through Hands @ Work in Africa
I am writing to ask for your help for orphaned and vulnerable children in the community of Hluvukani in the North East of South Africa. This is the community which is being visited every year by teams from the Link 4 Life Project. I will not beat around the bush – I am asking you to consider making a regular donation to our partner charity Hands @ Work in Africa. I’ll explain my reasons for asking so boldly and unashamedly.
Hands @ Work in Africa support the poorest and most vulnerable children in the 8 countries in Africa in which they work. Hluvukani is in the Bush Buck Ridge region of Mpumalanga, in the north east of South Africa. Many of the children in this community have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS related illnesses- and those with one parent often have to fend for themselves as the only work available means that a parent has to work and stay some distance away. Many are children of refugees from Mozambique, who moved to South Africa when there was war, years ago. They are able to stay in South Africa, but often have no birth certificate or ID meaning that they cannot claim help from the state, and cannot go to Mozambique as they no longer have family there.
Caught in this cycle/trap, children often struggle to find enough money to feed themselves, and are vulnerable to crime or doing “favours” for food. For some of the girls, the “favours” can be for local men who can take advantage of them. Also education becomes a problem, with money needed for termly school fees (school is not free in South Africa) and uniform. Also there is often no one at home to support with the emotional trials of school and with homework.
Hands @ Work inAfrica already have a team of committed volunteers who live in the villages of Hluvukani. They visit the children (about 60 – 80 children in each of the 4 local villages), encourage and support them and try to ensure their safety. Even though they have little themselves, the care volunteers share what they have with the children as they are able to. When they have enough volunteers, Hands @ Work try to set up a care team to provide the “Three Essential Services” (Food security, health & home security, and education). Children get a cooked meal every weekday, help with school issues and emotional support and regular visits to them at home. This costs around £750 per month to cover the needs of 50 children. That’s £15 per child per month. Hands @ Work call this a “Life Centre.”
Hands @ Work have had the care volunteers in Hluvukani for a while now (and a support and accountability structure for them), but at Link 4 Life Project the £750 per month was too big a target for us to get near so we have given what we could as donations came in. Now though, thanks to some generous donations and fantastic support from within the church & wider community we are in the position to cover the cost of the three essential services for 33 Children (£495 in total), so we are very close to being able to really help some of the vulnerable children in Hluvukani through Hands@Work in Africa.
We need promises of a further £245 (that’s 17 people giving £15 a month regularly) to be able to help the care volunteers to help the children.
Times are hard in the UK also but if you can help in any way then please do so. If £15 per month is too much then perhaps you could team up with a couple of friends to do that amount together. The difference made to the children in Hluvukani will be massive. To make the processing of donations for the children faster, we are asking that people do not give to Link 4 Life Project for this particular cause, but directly to Hands @ Work in Africa UK (also a registered charity).
If you would like to help then please get in touch with Andy Evans ( andy@edscouriers.co.uk) who will be co-ordinating our efforts. Andy is one of the trustees of the Link 4 Life Project charitable trust. He will, along with the rest of the 2012 teams be visiting the children of Hluvukani later this year- so we will be able to hear about how the support work is progressing.
If you are not able to help at the present time then thank you nevertheless for your concern and care for the work of the Link 4 Life Project. We continue to appreciate one off gifts and fundraising efforts which we pass on to our other partners Baby Bear Project and Mercy Air and also help with costs of the yearly visits to these groups. We really value your support and encouragement in every way however large or small. Please join us in praying and working for meaningful links between our community and communities in southern Africa.
Please Download a standing order form here
On behalf of some needy children,
Yours sincerely
Richard Westwood
Chair of Trustees, Link 4 Life Project Charitable Trust
Posted on 10th February 2012 by Mark