Coming
Closer...like family
 Over
the past two years, SONDELA has linked readers
to a range of men and women whose talents, determination
and faith bring hope and healing into their communities.
Whenever a year ends and a new one begins, it
is a time to think deeply about children. There,
in the light of their smiles, is a love that is
simple and pure, a trust that does not question
or manipulate, and many dreams of unique beauty.
However, in this time of HIV/AIDS, love, trust
and dreams are as precious as food, clothing,
and shelter. Out of every 100 households in our
country, three are headed by children. Poverty,
illness and death are rapidly destroying family
structures and displacing the idea that the young
are safe within their homes. While orphans struggle
to maintain their little families, they need stability
and security - not only of nutrition, education,
medical care and protective guidance - but also
a sense of their own family history, culture and
identity. These caregiving children, in particular,
need to be cared for. They need time to grieve,
to be heard as individuals and made to feel special,
but these are minutes and hours which social workers,
clinic sisters, home-based care volunteers, caring
community members and orphanage staff cannot often
spare.
“I am because you are”. Now, more
than ever, the true spirit of African community
is calling, through the voice of HIV/AIDS epidemic,
to show us that we are all equally human, and
that all men, women and children, from every social
group, are priceless creations and are our concern.
As UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central
Africa, Rima Salah, has said, “Action is
needed to prevent children from losing parental
care, to unite those who have been separated from
their families, and to ensure that there are alternative,
loving family environments for those who cannot
return to parents and relatives.” (Source:
BuaNews South Africa, 8 July 2004)
SONDELA’s 2005 Calendar is designed to
remind us of this sense of unity
during the year to come. We hope that it will
be of use to you as a date-planner and as inspiration
for the future. A stable family, however it is
formed or found, is our root system, with branches
that extend through neighbouring communities into
whole nations. Let us honour each and every person
as an extension of ourselves. Let us remember
our own parents as well as the memory of youth
within us. Let us trust, love and dream as one
human family.
COME CLOSER! CONTACT US:
The Editor – SONDELA
HIVAN (Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking)
c/o Campus HIV/AIDS Support Unit
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041
Tel: (031) 260 2975
Fax: (031 260 2937
e-mail: community@hivan.org.za
Website: www.hivan.org.za
PS: SONDELA sends greetings to Dumisani Mkhabela,
Chairperson of the Bumbanani Community Development
Project, who wrote to us in October to introduce
this community organisation, founded to help in
dealing with the deepening poverty and HIV/AIDS
in the KwaMashabane tribal area. Their volunteers
work in home-based care, orphan care and HIV/AIDS
awareness, and wish to link up with any organisations
with similar goals that can assist them with services,
training and other resources. If you or others
can help, please contact Dumisani by post: Bumbanani
Community Development Project, P O Box 263, Mkuze,
3965
Editor’s Note:
The loveLife Debating Outreach programme in which
former UKZN student achiever Andreas Coutsoudis
was involved (SONDELA, July 2004) is not officially
called “Lifestyle for Leadership”;
Andreas worked as one of a team of senior student
co-ordinators tutoring learners and their teachers
for inter-school debating contests.
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