Dear Friends and Supporters,On behalf of all of us at the Keiskamma Trust in South Africa, greetings and thanks for your continued generosity and good-will for our community workin Hamburg, Bodium, Ntilini, Lover’s Twist, Mgabaga, and 40 more villages in the Peddie South District.
Hundreds of families, orphans, HIV infected and affected women and childrenhave benefited this year from our programmes and interventions and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.
While we have struggled to make ends meet at the end of this year— like many not-for-profit organizations around the world— we have much to be thankful for,and much to look forward to in the new year.
Some of the highlights of 2010 have been as follows: a newly expanded board of Trustees, the addition of an operations director, a re-vamped and re-trained team of village health workers, a major and highly acclaimed art exhibition at the National Arts festival, increased support of the Education and OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) programme so that almost 500 children are included, the spread of organic community gardens to Grandmother groups, access to health services for over a thousand people, and the transfer of nearly 200 patients on ARVs into the government system.
And coming up in the new year we look forward to : spreading our expertise in paediatric HIV prevention and treatment to public health clinics, nurses and doctors; a joint- exhibition between our artists and those from Botswana to celebrate indigenous plant life in the Eastern Cape; another Kidzpostive Bike Tour from Hamburg to CapeTown along the freedom Trail; and a new IT centre for the youth of Hamburg opening in mid-year. There will of course be much more: for those of you who have spent any time in Hamburg, you know there is always something exciting happening.
We will of course need your help and support, especially in the next few months as our financial year draws to a close and we begin budgeting and planning for our programmes for next year. We are grateful to the South African organizations that have partnered with us this year, as well as groups in Norway, the UK, USA and Canada. We are also happy to announce that we have a new partner in the USA that has approved our NGO for support: the American Fund for Charities will now accept donations from Americans and issue tax receipts for all funds raised. (http://www.americanfund.info/).
Warm wishes to all of you for the holiday season and for 2011 on behalf of the management and staff of the Keiskamma Trust,
Carol, Thabang and Annette,
Directors of the Keiskamma Trust
