EVEN GROUND INC

Thembanathi’s goal is to provide funding for early childhood education and development programs, while strengthening families and building communities, in an area of rural South Africa devastated by the HIV epidemic and the long standing effects of racial segregation, poverty, and unemployment.

We believe early education is a critical need and will set children on a path to change their futures. The centers also help relieve the burden of care on families, allowing older siblings to remain in school and caregivers to seek work. We also believe strongly that community ownership and involvement is essential for the success and sustainability of projects, so have chosen to partner with small South African non-profits. Thembanathi has been working with Holy Cross Hospice, an organization in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa since 2003. Holy Cross provides preschools for vulnerable children, as well as a hospice and clinic care for adult and young AIDS patients. They also support vulnerable children in the community through services such as food parcels, school fees, and home-based care. None of these services have sustainable funding, and rely on Thembanathi and others for donations.
This year Thembanathi is partnering with a new community north of Holy Cross to help them build their first child development center. Approached by community leaders who saw this as an urgent need in their community, Thembanathi’s founder and director, Lindsey Reynolds, enthusiastically agreed to help make their dream come true.
Thembanathi also believes that economic opportunities for women are a critical component of HIV prevention. We support several income generation projects by buying jewelry and other crafts. Thembanathi buys all products at fair market prices and sends 100% of the proceeds back to South Africa.

The Dikatole Scholarship Fund provides education scholarships to children growing up in the Dikatole informal settlement outside of Johannesburg, enabling them to become educated, confident, successful young adults who have the tools and desire to play a positive role in the future of South Africa and the world.
Dikatole is an informal housing settlement where close to 30,000 people live in extreme poverty and have limited access to proper nutrition, clean water, health care and education. Many children in Dikatole are orphaned by HIV/AIDS or simply abandoned.
DSF founders made a commitment to 13 first grade students in 2006 that they would fund their schooling through high school. Believing that education is crucial to helping children escape the local low-wage, unstable and exploitative labor, DSF also supports 80 children at a homework center in Dikatole. Through these programs, children grow up with enhanced employment opportunities, strong ties to their community, and improved self esteem.