Abethu was founded by Mrs. Sibongile Nstetha in 2009 and started off in Sundumbili, Sibongile had a friend with a disabled child, and she worked in South Africa but lived in Zimbabwe and had a problem finding someone to take care of her child while she was working. Sibongile then offered up her time to take care of her friend’s child and soon more parents got to hear of this lady who took care of a disabled child and the requests started coming in for more children to be cared for.
Pretty soon her premises were too small and she had to relocate to Tugela Rail where she now opened her rented home to take care of the children – they are renting the house at present and hope to soon to purchase the property. At the moment they also offer HIV counseling to the parents if these children but they hope to soon bring skill development such as beading and grass mat making to empower the older children with some kind of skill to get them involved in the community and assist them to be self employed at some stage.
PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION:
The Abethu project is a community based interventions program for orphans, disabled children and the elderly. The programme is also aimed at assisting people infected and affected by HIV and chronic diseases such TB within the community. Abethu cares for orphans, vulnerable children and child / granny headed families there is a prevalence of all of the above causes in the community in which we operate and thus the need for intervention. The infected are cared for in the home using a holistic approach designed by the Department of Health, most importantly including administration of medication and ensuring the hygiene of the patients are taken care of.
The aim of the project is to prevent disabled or orphaned children form being neglected by providing for their basic needs and some for of monitoring. Abethu Home Based Care Centre takes care of 29 disabled children, 8 of whom are orphans and never leave the home for vacations. The home is a 6 bed roomed house with an average of 5 beds per room. Most of these children are both physically and mentally disabled and need 24 hour supervision and care.
Abethu is currently targeting the following geographical areas:
- Tugela Rail
- Sundumbili
- Wangu Area 269
- Nyoni
- North Coast of Durban
The project aims at providing the following for the above communities:
- Taking care of disabled children
- To promote healthy habits to specific individuals
- To provide spiritual counselling
- To promote gardening skills by educating those interested
- To educate women and youth how to fight malnutrition
- Help educate the unemployed within the community by hosting workshops on basic skills that will help them have a sustainable living.
Abethu hopes to eventually offer these services to the rest of the province and the country with the success of the project.
Operates in: Tugela, KwaZulu-Natal
Established in: May 2010
Non-Profit Organisation Number: 079-074
Public Benefit Organisation Number:
Section 21 Company Number:
Trust Number:
Contact person: Fundiswa
Phone: 083 367 1461
Fax: 086 245 7857
Email:
Website: www.abethuhome.co.za
Physical address: 58 Cactus Road, Highview Park, Tugela
Postal address: P O Box 3399, Sundumbili, 4491
