In the townships of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, a community-support approach can help keep young people healthy and attending school. Since 2003, Ubuntu has been working with orphans and vulnerable children in this region to reduce their vulnerability and improve access to essential resources and services. The program targets children who are orphaned, supported by parents or caregivers living with HIV/AIDS or living in child-headed households.

Ubuntu offers services such as counseling, health services, nutritional support, assistance with obtaining child support and foster care grants, assistance with obtaining birth certificates, school kits, learnership opportunities, after-school programs, holiday camps and support groups.

Ubuntu places full-time orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) specialists on-site in schools to identify vulnerable children for intake into their psychosocial support services. They proactively engage school governing boards, administrators, teachers and parents to establish a caring, supportive school environment. Ubuntu has an existing support group for OVC teenage mothers at their headquarters in Port Elizabeth. They also provide school start-up kits (uniforms, school fees, stationery and supplies) for 200 children from impoverished families and operate a learnership program targeting an additional 100 children for educational and career opportunities.

By donating to this project, here’s what you could support

• $10: Meal for one child for one week at a holiday camp for orphans and vulnerable children
• $25: Transportation for ten children to a holiday camp
• $50: Document Fees (including birth and death certificates needed to apply for government foster grants)
• $75: Support group meals for OVC teenage mothers
• $100: Provides food parcels for one family
• $143: Provides a school kit (includes a uniform, school fees, stationery and backpack)
• $600: Supports one child for a year in the after school or OVC program (including meals in the camps, school fees and school kits)
• $1000: Provides HIV care and anti-retroviral support for an orphaned/vulnerable children caretaker for one year

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For more information about the Ubuntu Education Fund, visit: www.ubuntufund.org