Thanda, which means “love” in Zulu, supports youths orphaned by HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable children in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Thanda supports the Thanda After-School Program (Thanda ASP) in Umtwalume (which Thanda started and continues to operate) 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 High School. Thanda ASP provides basic needs for today (such as feeding, 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, agriculture, construction, welding, carpentry, art, sports, community assistance, HIV/AIDS education, business skills, homework assistance, and youth education.

Thanda ASP will open with 140 High School and 50 Primary School students in January 2008, but will expand over time. Based at the Sacred Heart Children’s Home, the program will also use classrooms and fields at three government schools next to the home. Thanda ASP staff will create a curriculum book during the first year so that other schools can start their own after-school programs more easily.

Thanda recently started Thanda Zulu (www.tandazulu.org) in an effort to create a sustainable method of fundraising that also supports previously unemployed women in South Africa. Thanda Zulu is a limited liability company that sells beaded Zulu jewelry and wire animals made by women in an income generation project in KwaZulu-Natal—92% of proceeds are then donated to Orphans Against AIDS to support Thanda’s projects in South Africa. After a feature in InStyle magazine in April 2007, Thanda Zulu’s website has raised significant funds for South African children who have been orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS; additionally, Thanda Zulu provides work for the women who are employed by the beaded jewelry income generation project.

Thanda and Thanda Zulu were both started in 2007, and are run by many volunteers in the United States. Volunteers as well as locals staff Thanda ASP in South Africa.  Angela Larkan, a native of South Africa, is the Executive Director of Thanda.  Please see www.tanda.org for more information.