See how we have been bringing hope

We’ve been busy working to impact the community with love and care. Here are a few examples of how we've made a difference in the lives of others. 

Camps to Strengthen Parent-Child Connections

With gifts from people like you, we were able to pay the salaries of our social workers who ran two parenting skills camps in 2021 for the parents of children in our programs and the community as a whole. Feedback from camp participants tells the impact generosity has made.
" Thembalethu Care Organisation came to this area and has changed the lives of people, changed the area we live in. This area doesn’t prioritize the child’s wellbeing, just the parent's. I’ve learned that a child has a voice, even if you have a problem with the child we must talk to them."
- Mama Shabalala (mother of 5, grandmother of 2)
“When I got home from the Parenting Skills camp my house felt like there was a dark cloud hanging over it, but once I applied what I learned at camp to my family and husband, everything began to change. It has felt like a new beginning for me and my family. Reflecting, I saw that what I have been teaching my kids all along was not right. I then began to regret the damage I have done to my kids and husband. I now respect my kids and husband and they have returned the same respect to me. My house is now a happy home.”
- Joyce Sithole (grandmother of six)
"Going to Thembalethu’s Parenting Skills camp has opened my mind about teaching my family how to live life. We also learned about HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancy  Thembalethu has taught us a lot and has opened our minds, as we are parents who are always hurt spiritually and emotionally but being at the camp has helped us to cope and be able to build a healthy, happy home."
- Sibongile Kubheka, grandmother of teenager

Your support saved Nonhlanhla’s life

Support of people like you made TB screening possible and saved Nonhlanhla’s life by identifying symptoms of tuberculosis in her stomach and supporting her to access to immediate care. 
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With your support, our caregiver and nurse were able to get out to visit Nonhlanhla, identify symptoms of TB and get her on life-saving treatment.
Nonhlanhla* is on treatment for HIV and has been receiving adherence support from Themblethu for more than five years. In August last year, our home-based caregiver noted that she started losing weight, had a poor appetite and loss of energy, in addition to a distended belly. Without the characteristic symptoms of cough and chest pain, many cases of extrapulmonary TB get missed and TB remains the leading preventable cause of death in South Africa, most prevalent among the HIV positive. With a possible TB diagnosis always on her radar, MamShabalala, our nurse visited her and sent her with a referral letter to the local Injesuthi Clinic for a test for tuberculosis (TB). Sure enough, she was identified to have abdominal TB and started on treatment. 

Your donations help make it possible to find the TB in Nonhlanhla's body before it had done too much damage, and get her back on the road to healing.  

  • Your support gave her multivitamins every month to help with her poor appetite and diet. 
  • Your encouragement and transport money to go for her monthly check ups, even after she started to feel better. 
  • After a few months, she got her strength and weight back, her stomach returned to normal and she was able to again take up her daily responsibilities
  • ​Your support screened Nonhlanhla's children and other family members to ensure that others stayed healthy. 
  • Your support allowed our nurse monthly visits to give her support through the nine long months of TB treatment until it was cured.
  • With your support, we were able to walk Nonhlanhla through her battle with TB without her being added as another tragic statistic. 
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 * For privacy reasons, we've changed her name.

Receiving a Dry Roof

From supporters like you, Thembalethu was able to advocate with local officials to for orphaned sisters to receive a sturdy new house from the local government.
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​Generous donors like you helped cover the salary and fuel costs for our director, Xoli, to get out in the community for a home visit. During the visit, Xoli saw the shocking state of their home, the back walls of which were in a terrible state, the mud half crumbled. The family, made up of two 20 year olds (one of whom is pictured sweeping her stoop), had been orphaned years before. Despite their best attempts, they had not yet been able to gather the resources to repair their home. Through her strong relationships with the local village councilor, Xoli was able to have the family added to the top of the list of families in need of new safe accommodation.
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With your support, orphaned sisters were able to be moved to the top of the list to receive a new home (pictured, left) before their unsound mud house (pictured, right) crumbled to the ground.
While they had been trying to make enough mud bricks (stacked to the left of the mud house) to build a new home before the crumbling walls fell down or the roof blew off, Thembalethu's referral network came through before their old home crumbled in a storm. They can now sleep safe and sound in their sturdy new cement block home for which they are so thankful!

Your every gift makes a big difference in the lives of children and families in South Africa. 

We are so grateful for your generosity and partnership to share love and life with the Amangwe community.

Thank you!