Kwamzamo/About

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ORGANISATIONAL PROFILE/BACKGROUND
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KwaMzamo was formed in February 2002 by various church organizations that saw a need to assist the children who are orphans due to HIV/AIDS. There was also a need to assist them to deal with a range of social, cultural, religious, political and economical problems. The organization currently serves the youth and children of KwaZulu-Natal, but our focus is to establish branches all over nine provinces of South Africa. Adams Mission KwaMzamo HIV/AIDS Support Centre is based in KwaZulu-Natal which has a population of about 8 million people. The currently project is located on the Umbumbulu District. KwaMzamo HIV/AIDS centre is registered as anon-profit organization with the department of social development.

Whilst KwaMzamo HIV/AIDS Support Centre has three programmes, the main focus and thrust of the organization is on HIV/AIDS. This means that more resources will be spent on the HIV/AIDS programme. This will also be guided by our funders or the funding environment.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE OF THE AREA
More and more families in historically disadvantaged communities are facing hardship which is due to challenges faced by parents, community leaders and children. These problems include the following:


 * Displaced children
 * Orphans through HIV/AIDS impact and an increase in youth and child-headed families
 * Spread of HIV/AIDS and inadequate programmes and resources to mobilize communities around the issues of HIV/AIDS and its impact on the youth and children
 * High levels of poverty faced by communities in the targeted areas
 * High level of illiteracy
 * Sexual abuse
 * Domestic violence and women battering
 * Child and women abuse
 * Lack of recreational facilities such as youth centre or multi-purpose centre
 * High rate of unemployment and crime
 * Lack of resources and financial assistance
 * Stigmatization and discrimination against those affected

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1 (a)

Many inhabitants of South Africa live in an environment that is below the breadline let alone poverty stricken. It is understood that our country has come out of a past that has been devastated by apartheid, and it will take incalculable time frame for reparatory action to be felt. Adams Mission KwaMzamo HIV/AIDS Support Centre is no exception to this unfortunate situation. However we aim to promote awareness to the general public that in terms of the constitution of our land everyone has a right to live a good life. We further aim to fight poverty as well as to be free from ignorance and poverty. This is done for the benefit of present and future generations through empowerment that will be equipped with knowledge to fight poverty, HIV/Aids, and to secure economically sustainable development in their life styles.

1 (b)

Adams Mission KwaMzamo HIV/AIDS Support Centre is an organization that is intended to serve the community of Umbumbulu District and the neighbourhood. It seeks to help infected and affected children to cope with the unpleasant situations. The abused and distressed are part of the exercise.

The project is based on three simple facts:


 * 1) .Prevention of HIV/AIDS
 * 2) .Control of HIV/AIDS
 * 3) .Treatment and Education as well as dealing with other AIDS’ related illnesses. This of course should be done in line with the donors’ philosophy and mission. KwaMzamo has identified the needs of the Community of Umbumbulu District that need to be urgently addressed. i.e. AIDS Pandemic and the damage it is causing to society. Kwamzamo is cognizant of the fact that it needs to be in partnership with funders because working together, KwaMzamo can win the fight against the enemy. In essence we see the KwaMzamo in partnership with funders and other stakeholders providing relief to society which is facing the pandemic.

The following shows how the project will be conducted.

Goal 1 – Reduce the degree of HIV/AIDS amongst children and youth.

Objective- To provide the infected and affected people with relevant information regarding food nutrition and preventative measures:

2. STATEMENT OF NEED
AIDS Kills, AIDS is a natural problem and leading cause of death to young people and children. Each day children all over the country die from the pandemic. In the district of Umbumbulu alone particularly the informal settlement the problem is worse. More young man, women and children die here perhaps any place else. It is real a pandemic. This therefore demonstrates an urgent need for our intervention prevention programs in these areas.

Research has however shown that training is the most effective way to deal with the problem of lack of knowledge and misinformation people have with regards to HIV/AIDS and stigma attached to it. Statistics have shown that the less privileged community in terms of good education and those clouded by poverty are the most exposed to HIV/AIDS. Ignorance itself is a disease because people do wrong things because of lack of knowledge. Child line statistics has shown that in KZN 5000 children died in the year 2005. As much as we need community support in this exercise to defeat the enemy, much success depends on funders who have financial capacity as opposed to non profits who have the ideas and capacity to implement and solve the problems. No doubt if one brings the two together effectively and the result is a dynamic collaboration.

The community would be encouraged to voluntarily go for testing stations for blood test. This would help if one is found to be positive at an earlier stage; this might help prevent the likely hood of death. We hope that if people might respond to this call, there might be a hope of reducing the risk of the high rate of deaths and thus achieving funder’s mission and everyone else who feels the same burden.

We have devised programs to try to make our centre self sufficient and sustainable in terms of future developments. This means it must be revenue generating. This action might perhaps make our organization attractive to other funders.

By these following programmes we aim to prepare ourselves for the future when we probable have no funders.

Program -1

Obtain big land to plant vegetables and mielies to this regard. We have already approached the Department of Agriculture for more land. This request is still in pipeline hopefully we feel positive that our application might be successful.

Program -2

Because we are in rural areas, we have a strong belief that chiefs, indunas and councillors when involved might play an important role in the dissemination of information to their people about our service. Through them we can further obtain more land free of charge.

For the past 4 years of our operation, we had been able to put up the infrastructure i.e. water, electricity and sanitation, and the renovation on the building was done. Some individual donor generously donated food, toys and clothes. We had been able to send 22 children to schools.