Nkomo Primary School currently has 842 students enrolled, 17 classrooms and 22 teachers.  The school's heroic principal and founder is an incredible woman named Mrs. Zikhali.  Her vision was to create a school that offered complete care for the children of her school. In 1999, with 120 children arriving eager to learn, Mrs. Zikhali mobilized the community and parents to help build the first reed hut to start building the school. Since then the school has grown significantly. This leadership and dedication have not gone unnoticed - Nkomo Primary was identified as a role model in its region and was upgraded to a full-service school in order to accommodate disabled children from the village.  Africa Foundation and &Beyond have played an instrumental role in providing critical infrastructure to this school.  For more information about these organizations, please visit  www.africafoundation.org.za and www.andbeyond.com.   

The Khulani Special School was founded in 1998 by two community ambassadors, Mrs. Elsie Nsukwini and Crazentia Ngobese. Both women shared a common concern for the welfare of the handicapped or mentally challenged children in their community who did not have access to appropriate facilities. In 1998, these two invincible leaders started the school under a tree.  Today, with the help of community leaders, local government, the private sector and Africa Foundation (www.africafoundation.org.za), the Khulani Special School has become a world-class facility with 10 classrooms, a dining hall and much more.

The school's objective is to achieve a balance between the physical, intellectual and social development of the children, helping them acquire the knowledge and skills needed to take up their rightful place as contributing members of their community.

Mduku Clinic is situated in Mduku Community in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.  The clinic was established in 1995 and provides 24-hour care to the community of Mduku.  It also provides care to people as far as 30 kilometers away. In an average year, the clinic attends to 45,000 patients, treating illnesses that range from TB and HIV/AIDS to the common cold. The clinic is serviced by several full-time nurses and is visited at least four times a week by a doctor from Mseleni Hospital, 70 kilometers away.

The Home Based Care Centre is run by 23 volunteers who provide 170 orphans and vulnerable children a morning and after-school meal as well as assistance with homework and applying for government grants. This facility was funded and built by Africa Foundation and remains a lifeline to these 170 children. Empowers Africa would like to help raise funds to supply the centre with tables and chairs for the dining hall.   

Empowers Africa made a grant in April 2013 to provide scholarships to six students (ages 19 to 23) to enter the Digital Learning Center program and complete their International Computer Drivers License (ICDL) qualifications. In March 2014, Empowers Africa made an additional grant to support 500 learners in this world-class Open Learning Academy every week. The Hazyview Digital Learning Centre's Open Learning Academy is a digital hub where five local primary schools access their computers and learn science and English.  Empowers Africa recently made a third grant to sponsor six students to enter the computer program and complete their ICDL qualifications.  These students will also have access to English classes as well as life skills and career counseling, all aimed toward helping these individuals enter the workforce with both skills and confidence.  For more information about this foundation, please go to www.goodworkfoundation.org.  

Imibala provides tuition and uniforms to underprivileged schoolchildren in the Somerset West area of the Western Cape, enabling these students to attend school. Empowers Africa recently made a grant to Imibala Trust to sponsor 57 children from 10 different schools.  Each child will receive a book bag, notebooks, school tracksuit, jersey, socks, shoes, a raincoat and, in some cases, school fees where applicable.  This support will enable the children to attend school.  Empowers Africa has made two prior grants to this organization, sponsoring over 71 children.

To see more pictures from Imibala, click here. 

The SA College for Tourism (SACT) was established in 2001 and operates under the auspices of Peace Parks Foundation. SACT is the first training center in Southern Africa to focus its training program on the development of operational and management skills for the lodge and guesthouse industry. Every year SACT selects approximately 90 young women and several young men - all unemployed and from impoverished rural backgrounds - and sponsors them for a yearlong training course in hospitality service skills (Women in Hospitality) and in the age-old traditional art of tracking animals in the wild (Tracker Academy for men). Empowers Africa has made three grants to finance boarding, lodging, training materials, uniforms, equipment and travel for the female entrants in the Women in Hospitality program.

On Friday, November 22, 2013, 88 young women and five young men graduated from this program at the college during a ceremony attended by their families and friends and donors and supporters of SACT. Among the 93 graduates were three from Lesotho, three from Malawi, five from Namibia, two from Swaziland, four from Zambia, a Zimbabwean and 12 from Mozambique.

The female graduates received four national skills development certificates in accommodation services, culinary art, food and beverage services and front of house services conferred by the South African Education and Training authority.  By the end of April, 78 -- or 88% -- of the 2013 graduates had jobs in the hospitality industry. Arrangements with the other employers will increase the figure to well above 90% in the near future.

Empowers Africa trustees Lyn Pedersen and Gretchen Hunt and Advisory Committee member Cathy Zicherman and other guests recently visited several communities in Zambia.  The community visit was conducted by Wilderness Wildlife Trust. 

Wilderness Safaris and Children in the Wilderness took Lyn Pedersen and her group to the Sinbe Village, which has a population of 1,200 and is located near Victoria Falls in Zambia.  The group visited the Twabuku Middle Basic School.  A recent donation from Wilderness Safari guests provided a solar pump and water tanks at the school.  This project has given the community and the school access to safe drinking water for themselves, their livestock and for their vegetable garden.  A recent donation has also allowed the school to fence its vegetable garden, which enables the students to engage in intensive agriculture and vermiculture studies. The produce from the garden supplements the school's feeding scheme, and any surplus can be sold to raise funds for the school. 

Through the partnership with the local community, Children in the Wilderness holds regular meetings with the school Parent Teacher Association and the village leaders to prioritize the needs of the village and of the school. These meetings also ensure that all the project proposals from Wilderness Safaris and Children in the Wilderness are approved and supported by the community.  For more information about these organizations, please visit www.wildernesswildlifetrust.org and www.wilderness-safaris.com.