Siyaphambili Orphan Village

Siyaphambili’s AIDS Orphans’ Village in Langa, Cape Town can be contacted by calling Siphokazi Xameni @ 0826859048.

Ndileka Xameni is running the new site in Bedford in the Eastern Cape @ 0823995028.

Saturday March 15/03/2014 marked the openning of the learning center t Siyaphambili Orphan Village, this means the children at the Orphanage no longer have to rush to the public library after school to avoid long queues while the center will be of great benefit to the children. They are thrilled that Ndileka Xmeni the founder & Director of Siyaphambili, will have time more to herself as she will no longer have to drive them to and from the library.

Our Bedford operation cooked and distributed a hot meal to all in the neighborhood. We are working on the school building, which lost part of its roof in a windstorm.

Ndileka’s very able daughter Siphokazi now heads the Langa operations of Siyaphambili. Her phone is 0836859048.

In early June, we received 55 boxes of food from Rise Ag

Rise against Hunger to assist our soup kitchen during this time of Covid-19.  The donation of meat is from Estelle, the manager of the Duke Hotel in Port Elizabeth.  We are grateful and eat for another week.  We work hard for such donations and need a cash infusion or monthly givers like the wonderful few we have now so that we can secure food on an ongoing basis.  Due to the pandemic, we are much constrained from shopping, delivering food, even getting our garden supplies.

But we help each other and we will survive this.  Our blessings to all.

Ndileka

Letter from Ndileka – I am not sure if I told you about the story of four young girls who are heading their households here in Bedford.  They are from two different families and they lost their parent to AIDS.  They find themselves homeless as their homes collapsed due to bad weather conditions for the past three years and because they didn’t know where to go after several attempts with the Councillor and last month they were referred to our program and that is how we found out about their problem.

I’m talking about young women who do not have anyone to run to for food or sanitary pads or toiletries of any kind, let alone food.  It is really hard and we have no money to help them.  I am praying the Global Giving community hears this plea.  In this Covid-19 era, much is needed everywhere, but surely these young women deserve the basic necessities of living for them and their siblings.

I give many thousand thanks for any donations to our program which we can distribute to this situation.  Thank you and God bless.  Stay safe, stay 6 feet apart, wear a mask, and wash hands in any way possible very often.

2 Teen head of households

Homeless

Empty cupboards

Now what?

From a newspaper article published in Bedford, South Africa on 19 May 2020

“We cannot be satisfied with just teaching people to stand in lines for food.”

These are the words of Ndileka Xameni. She and her volunteers have been feeding the poorer residents in the Bedford townships for many years.  And now, more than ever before, her policy of “education, education, education” is central to her work.

The volunteers have bukets of soap and water ready for handwashing as the children enter the gate.  Their bowls or cups are also washed.

Children who arrive without a mask are senthome to fetch their mother’s ‘doek’ (head scarf) or a T-shirt to use as a mask.

Then the volunteer give talks to teh children about the virus and how they must wash their hands often and always wear a mask when they are outside their homes.  In light of the Covid19 outbreak, this subject has been added to the talks they have on brushing their teeth and maintaining good personal hygiene.

Only once they have listened to the lesson are they served the soup of the day for lunch.

This week it was all smiles at the table as a local farmer generously donated fresh meat, which is being served with samp and beans.  And a couple of pots of meaty soup will also emerge from the very kind and timely donation.

Beneath her ready smile and her perpetual motto that “God is Good”, Ndileka takes her role very, very seriously, as she has for many years.  She says that these children will survive the virus, bu when they grow a few years older,they will face a much deadlier virsu, and her lessons on hand washing and wearing masks is just preparing them for the lessons they will learn from her about preventing HIV.  Bedford is blessed to have Ndileka, “Mama Bedford”.

Ndileka shows how

Washing hands

Lesson before lunch