Ikhaya Lempilo
The staff of Ikhaya Lempilo – Legacy’s “House of Wellness” deserves a medal! They worked with more than 50 clients over a period of 9 months and really played a major role to nurse them back to health and to a better understanding of the virus. Although not always easy, unconditional love was given. The staff grew, as a team, but also as individuals.
Every client leaves a legacy by painting a piece of cloth – here is the first clients’ beautifully framed.

Khulani Kayamandi
Our primary school programme, Khulani Kayamandi, also grew from strength to strength. Although the loss of Joseph as leader had an impact, we were lucky enough to appoint Thembeka Jam as new leader of Khulani. Here are some of the kids dressed in their dance costumes.

Project Uvuyo
Uvuyo means happiness. Project Uvuyo is built on the premise that happiness is to have:
• something to do
• someone who is interested in you
• something to hope for

Project Uvuyo started out at the end of 2008 as a project by final year students from the Department of Occupational Therapy who trained unemployed, low skilled members of the HIV support group to better their lives by fulfilling worker roles and to master the skill of cleaning as a group. The result of this holistic training (based on occupational therapy principles) was the birth of the “Lumkani cleaners” (this means “be aware” – something is happening!)
This group was supported in 2009 by Legacy in that a sponsor was found to pay them to clean the local high school. An occupational therapist, Irma van Rooyen, was appointed to run this project –to do intentional group work and training.
The impact of this project indicated that a broader range of skills training is needed. Morning workshops that teach the community different skills were started. This project has a holistic approach – e.g. when a craft is taught, the attendees will also be exposed to life skills and health related information.
Here are some of the women making padded hearts for a “Outreach market” that will be held at Stellenbosch Gemeente.

Medical Knowledge Institute (MKI)
The Medical Knowledge Institute (MKI) is an international, Netherlands based, non-profit foundation dedicated to healthcare education and healthcare information as a human right. One of MKI’s initiatives is the building of MKI health information centres. The purpose of such a centre is to provide healthcare/public health education and healthcare information to the general public from all walks of life to promote individual and community health, taking into consideration their individual cultural sensitivities.
Such a centre will be opened at the Legacy Centre at the end of November. The staff member that is already appointed forms part of the Legacy team. Health related information will form an integral part of all the activities at the Legacy Centre.
Here is the new Health Information Centre @ Legacy.

Joseph Selela
NEWS FROM KAYAMANDI:
AUGUST 2009
From Louise ‘s point of view
If you haven’t noticed – 2009 is flying! Even in Kayamandi, where life is usually much slower, we are talking about the end of the year.
The year started with the chaos of the building of the Medical Knowledge Institute (MKI) storey. We had rain at times we did not expect which meant that part of our office area was under water – the pages of our receipt book are still stuck together! Then I do not even talk about the dust… But in the end it is finished and will soon be operational.
22 January 2009 will always be an important date in the history of the Legacy Centre. On this date our respite centre, Ikhaya Lempilo, was officially opened. Irma van Rooyen, our new occupational therapist, joined us and immediately added lots of value.
February was as hot as usual – we had Canadian friends who added value to people’s lives by rebuilding shacks and erecting a new fence at the Legacy Centre.
Project Uvuyo, that provides salaries for ten members of the HIV support group that were trained by the occupational therapy students as the so-called Lumkani cleaners in 2008, kicked off. They clean the new high school; part of the project is also that they take weekly English lessons. Uvuyo means happiness. Project Uvuyo is built on the premise that happiness is to have:
• something to do
• someone who is interested in you
• something to hope for

The Khulani (Grade 4 – 7) and the Khulisani project (they are the Grade 1’s and 2’s that form part of a development project that is run by the Occupational Therapy students) started. Khulani is focusing on reading, mathematics, a value based life skills programme, art and culture. A sponsor from Stellenbosch Gemeente started a project that supplies these kids with Herbalife’s energy drink. They are also lucky enough to be part of Matie Community Service’s project through which Minerva and Simonsberg hostels organise events for the children and have a weekly developmental programme at Khulani. We also receive students from the International Office that work at Khulani for six months, as well as from SASTS – up to now we we’re blessed by the love and effort of Tony, Rafael, Matilda, Sanna, Iris and Kiley.
Khulani said goodbye to Luyanda Lupondo, youth worker since 2006. He received a learnership from Telkom and we wish him well.
We also had to say goodbye to the “Daddy” of the Legacy Centre, Joseph Selela (see photograph above), at the end of May 2009. He was diagnosed with cancer and cannot work anymore. The Legacy Centre will always be his legacy and we honour him for it.
One of the current frustrations in Kayamandi is that we are forced by crime to pay more and more for security – something that we haven’t budgeted for and do not like to spend funds on. (The flip side of this coin is however that it provides a salary to jobless men!)
Back to Ikhaya Lempilo – a few important impressions:
• We are more and more sure that we are called to serve the weak, vulnerable and voiceless and to give unconditional love. The situation that most of our clients find themselves in confirms this.
• We can play a major role in the process of HIV/Aids education. During the three to four weeks the clients stay with us we can make sure that they have a proper understanding of the virus and the medicine.
• When our clients start spreading the word of the level of love and care they received we will not have enough beds and resources. (This is a challenge for the near future!)

WHAT DO WE PLAN FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR?
• A recycling project with the help of the Municipality and Cobus Smit.
• The opening of our “Mama’s Kitchen” – we want to provide cheap (but not free) meals to the people in our sphere of influence.
• A wine auction to obtain funds to sponsor next year’s projects.
• A visit by the Saracens team from England to Kayamandi – our one director, dr Brendan Venter, is currently their couch.
• A couple of events and outings for the Khulani kids.
• The opening of the Medical Knowledge Institute (MKI) @ Legacy.

Stories from Ikaya Lempilo:
Sizeka*
Behind the police station in Kayamandi, Stellenbosch, there is a homeless shelter. How much shelter it offers is debatable, since it consists of three walls, open at one side, with separate rooms formed by hanged blankets and sheets. And yet inside each occupant has made a home of his or her area, keeping their mattress made and their belongings ordered. It testifies of humanity in inhumane circumstances. The @Heart voluntary council and testing centre keeps an eye on this shelter to make sure the inhabitants do not suffer more than they need, and it was they who found Sizeka. One day the @Heart centre called the Legacy centre because they found a 44 year old HIV positive woman living in the shelter. Better living circumstances were absolutely essential if this woman was to have a chance at fighting her disease. The Legacy Community Development Corporation had built a house, Ikhaya Lempilo, which serves specifically as a haven for people who do not have the necessary resources, like at hand bathrooms, to become stronger once on Anti Retroviral medication. Sizeka was diagnosed with HIV in 2008. By the time she came to the Legacy centre she weighed 31 kg. She had left behind her life in the Eastern Cape, saying goodbye to her mother, in search of a better life in a city. She came to the Western Cape only to find work on a farm. However, when she became ill the farm could not keep her as a worker. She had neither ID nor birth certificate so she could not get a grant to support her and she was too ill for anyone to employ her. She was homeless, too weak to continue life in the city and to afraid to go back home. She had lost all contact with her family in the Eastern Cape and she had no idea if her mother, her closest relative, was still alive. Her greatest fear was returning home to find she had no one there either.

Sizeka was admitted to the Legacy Centre in February 2009. Within a safe environment she could get healthier and stronger, and she found people who cared for her, who made her realise that she was not alone. This support made her brave enough to consider going back home. One afternoon Tracey, the nursing sister working at the Legacy Centre, went to Sizeka holding a bus ticket back to the Eastern Cape. Despite her fears, she was overjoyed, finally being given the chance to see her family again. Everybody made a joint effort to assist Sizeka in preparing for her journey. They bought her clothes from the container shop at the Legacy Centre, where second hand clothing is sold cheaply. At the house the home based carers workers were busy cooking food for Sizeka’s journey. It was all a very big business, with fluttering hearts filled with joy, anticipation and fear.

On the day of the trip, Tracey took Sizeka to the bus stop. She felt Sizeka’s anxiety as they sat together waiting. Waiting. By six o’clock the bus had still not come. Now more than ever doubt settled on Sizeka. What if her mother was not alive anymore? Would she be able to support herself? Was she strong enough? To their great relief the bus arrived and with a heavy heart Tracey put Sizeka on the bus and wished her a prosperous life. They had walked a path together and neither knew what the future would entail. Good news reached the centre a couple of days later. Sizeka had reached the Eastern Cape safely to find her mother still alive. She also went straight to the clinic to get TB medication, proving that she was determined to live a healthy life. It was in the environment of friendship and support that Sizeka found at Legacy that she was able to gather strength and courage. It was with the love that she found that she was able to conquer her fears and find her feet again.
Words by Liezel Fourie
*Names have been changed

Part of Project Uvuyo is to provide the women with an opportunity to become English literate. They are having great fun and their self esteem is growing visibly. Here they are with Nellie and one of our international volunteers, Matilda, busy with their books.

In 2008 the occupational therapy students that are doing their service learning modules at the Legacy Centre started a development programme with a group of Grade 1’s at the local primary school. This year these kids (who are now in Grade 2) come to the Legacy Centre for their programme. Here are four of them with Anna-Louise and Legacy’s OT, Irma.

A whole month has past since we opened our respite centre, Ikhaya Lempilo – many new things happened. We started with two patients – now we have five. Our carers started to work shifts; the night shift is the really new (and scary!) thing. At this stage we are so proud of them – they are learning on their feet and must make quick decisions. Without our nursing sister, Tracey, and the occupational therapist, Irma, we will get nowhere. They are also improvising as they go along. Lindiwe, the housekeeper, is learning fast – thanks to the volunteers from Stellenbosch Gemeente who is working on a food plan. One small group already brought meals for two weekends.

February in Stellenbosch means heat! Up to now we had a few of those real hot days, accompanied by strong winds – and bush fires in the mountains surrounding the town.

Ikhaya Lempilo has its first three clients – we are currently sorting out all the teething problems of the new project. Working with people that are really ill is a serious challenge! Our staff is however doing a wonderful job and learning as they go along. Here is some of the fabric painting they did as well as a picture of our housekeeper, Lindiwe, in the kitchen.

The building of the MKI Health Information Centre @ Legacy is progressing very well:

The Khulani kids had a wonderful day as the guests of two of the hostels at the University of Stellenbosch (Minerva and Simonsberg). They took part in Kids Games and had a wonderful time, eating, drinking and having fun.

Another dream came true when Project Uvuyo started. (Uvuyo means happiness.) Project Uvuyo grew out of a project that the Occupational Therapy students started in 2008 at the Legacy Centre when they trained a group of women to be cleaners – these women called themselves Lumkani (it means “beware!”) This project is built on the premise that happiness is to have:
- something to do
- someone to love (and someone who is interested in you)
- something to hope for
Project Uvuyo has a three pronged approach:
- To train unemployed, low skilled persons in Kayamandi to master the skill of cleaning as a group.
- To support this group to find and keep a job (as a group) – in this instance the cleaning of the local schools.
- To appoint an occupational therapist to run this project – the uniqueness of the approach of Uvuyo will require this. To transform a group of persons that are unemployed, illiterate and unskilled into a group of dedicated, committed workers will require intentional group work and training by a professional person.
The vision for Uvuyo is to start with Lumkani 1 at the new high school, but to expand to the other schools in Kayamandi.
And here they are with the principal of the high school ready to start working:

Time flies! Here we are at the end of January! In Kayamandi life is slowly getting a rhythm again. The Khulani kids are registering, our international volunteers already pitched, Ikhaya Lempilo is waiting to see who will be our first clients and the MKI Health Information Centre is already at window height.
Something more about Khulani – we decided last year to start by the middle of February – especially because of the building process by MKI. On Wednesday most of last year’s Khulani kids were however back and “demanded” that the project starts! This forced us to start – luckily we have the wonderful partnership with Prochorus (one of the other NGO’s in Kayamandi) in that we can make use of their computers in the library twice a week for the kids maths programme.

The Ikhaya Lempilo staff visited the Baphumelele project in Khayelitsha on 30 January. Apart from the MKI Health Information Centre, we saw their children’s homes, soup kitchen, educare, house for abandoned babies and specifically their respite centre. It was wonderful to meet people that share our passion and dream. Especially because we could learn from their experiences! Here we are with Mama Rosie – the wonderful women who started everything in Khayelitsha.

Back: Zandile (carer), Tracey (nursing sister), Mama Rosie (MD, Baphumelele), Tsepi (carer), Shynette (carer), Louise (director), Princess (carer)
Front: Irma (occupational therapist)

In January 2007 I stood on the stairs of the clinic in Kayamandi. My friend was inside, weak, in a wheel chair, with a CD4 count of 11. And I had to take him back to his shack! For the first time I realised what a few people already told me – we need a house where we can help the people of Kayamandi to get better in dignity – something that is impossible in a shack with no ablution facilities and running water (not to mention the heat or cold!)

This dream came true on 22 January 2009 when the house of wellness, Ikhaya Lempilo , at the Legacy Centre in Kayamandi was opened by the Executive mayor of Stellenbosch, Alderman Swartz, and Lanaine Abrahams, on behalf of the funder, the Signature Trust of British American Tobacco SA. Here they cut the ribbon at one of the bedrooms’ door.

It was a wonderful function with representatives from the hospital, Hospice, clinics, Municipality, Stellenbosch Gemeente and the other NGO’s in Kayamandi. Read the rest of this entry →