Overview

Thanda (www.thanda.org) supports youths orphaned by HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable children in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa through the Thanda After-School Program (Thanda ASP) in Umtwalume and the Bishop Mansuett Biyase Preschool in Gingindlovu.

Thanda ASP is a new approach to orphan care—one that addresses the underlying social and economic causes of HIV/AIDS and poverty among youngsters in South Africa. Thanda ASP empowers students to think positively about their future by teaching them life skills and helping them to start businesses after graduating from secondary school. Thanda ASP provides basic needs for today (such as nutritious meals, counseling, and a safe place to stay) while encouraging students to protect themselves from poverty and HIV/AIDS (through skills development and HIV/AIDS education that focuses on gender power relations). Activities at Thanda ASP include: technology education; developing agricultural, entrepreneurship, construction, welding, carpentry, and artistic skills; sports (soccer, basketball, netball); community service; HIV/AIDS education and attachment theory programs; homework assistance; grade 12 examination preparation; and home assistance and counseling (when needed).

History and Background
In January 2008, Thanda ASP opened with 140 secondary school and 50 primary school students; today, Thanda ASP serves more than 300 youths ranging in age from 4 to 24 years old. Based at the Sacred Heart Children’s Home, the program also uses classrooms and fields at three nearby government schools. Thanda ASP has created a curriculum book detailing the aforementioned activities so that other schools can start their own after-school programs more easily.

Additionally, Thanda operates Thanda Zulu (www.tandazulu.org), a local income generation project that sells beaded Zulu and Xhosa jewelry and wire animals made by more than 100 South African women in KwaZulu-Natal.  After paying these individuals well above a living wage, the products are sold in the United States and the United Kingdom—92% of the proceeds are donated to Orphans Against AIDS and 100% of these funds are used to support Thanda’s work in KwaZulu-Natal. Thanda Zulu creates a sustainable method of fundraising while also providing jobs for previously unemployed women in South Africa. Thanda Zulu has been featured in InStyle and Travel & Leisure magazines; each color and shape contains specific meaning in the Zulu and Xhosa culture. The beaders help design the jewelry and pick out the beads themselves, giving them ownership in the manufacturing process; furthermore, the products can be made from home, allowing these women to care for their children and orphans in the area.  In a country where less than half of the population is employed, Thanda Zulu, in harnessing the potential of the private and non-profit sectors, offers the prospect of poverty alleviation and community development.

Thanda and Thanda Zulu were both started in 2007; they are operated by many volunteers in the United States in addition to local South African staff at Thanda ASP.