Mamelani would like to take the opportunity to salute the Stephen Lewis Foundation who is the core funder for our health programme. The Foundation works with community-level organisations providing care and support to women, orphaned children, grandmothers and people living with HIV and AIDS.
What we appreciate about the Foundation is not only the vital support they are offering to organisations like Mamelani, but also, the developmental way in which they work. We are grateful for the work and learning that the Foundation has made possible for us and the participants in our programmes.
As Ida, one of the programme officer explains: “Grassroots organisations are situated right in the heart of their communities, and so I spend a lot of my life travelling…sometimes I have to travel by boat, bike, or foot to finally get to them” she says, “and we don’t just go once. We come back again and again. The key to our work is our relationship. You know it is so hopeful when I go back to a project where there have been challenges and I see that they have fixed them. This gives me the motivation and strength to move forward. We are like part of them, and they are like part of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.” Ida’s words encapsulate the ethos of the Foundation.
