2024 marks the 20th anniversary of running projects in our community. When we started our work in the area, there was no road, access to healthcare, functioning schools, electricity, any kind of sanitation, or access to safe drinking water. We conducted a local survey in which we found that 53% of households had lost at least one child to diarrhoea. Only a handful of people had ever graduated from high school, and almost all adults in the village were illiterate. The area epitomised the most acute poverty challenges of the country and the globe at large.
Starting as a crisis response, we have steadily built our approach into a holistic development strategy, covering human development stages from ‘preconception to career’. This approach has enabled a virtuous cycle and sparked a multiplier effect of change. We have seen the evidence of this impact over the past two decades: children who attended our first preschools and benefitted from our healthcare programmes graduated from our Bulungula College and now work for the BI.
Poverty is not merely a lack of resources but a lack of opportunities and available choices to change your life. We aim to be the catalyst that enables a pathway out of poverty, and to end poverty within a generation.
Thank you for your unwavering support over the past two decades. This is what transformational impact looks like. Siyabulela, we are so grateful.