Had minimal sleep last night due to a ferocious storm on the Cape which lasted most of the night. Up at 4.00am and by 5.00am when we set off by car to the airport it was still pretty wild. The lightning show was simply breathtaking enroute.
Thankfully the storm was blowing itself out, and our flight to Durban was not affected. After a 2 hour flight we arrived to a grey and humid Durban at 8.30 am.
Our first visit was to EngageHIV's partner Indlela based in Durban North. Indlela is a Zulu word for 'The Way' and is a not for profit organisation linked to a thriving local church that provides help to the local community in 4 ways: -
1. Life Skills and HIV prevention training in local schools.
2. Door of hope - Christian counselling service.
3. Fair Havens - transition homes for abandoned babies.
4. Feeding Programme - ongoing daily nourishment for over 500 kids in crisis.
We then visited a local school in the Amaoti township community of over 900 kids; in some cases with over 80 in a class. Many of the classrooms were being painted up by Soul Survivor gap year volunteers from the UK, and we were introduced the teachers and children who had benefited from the Life Skills and HIV prevention training.
This programme has now been running for 4 years. One of the significant outcomes is that they've seen the number of teenage pregnancies in the school drop from between 20-30 per year previously, to almost none this year.
We returned to Indlela's offices for lunch, then headed 70km north to Pietermaritzburg.
We spent the evening as guests of Rob and Debbie who help out at CCP - an HIV AIDS outreach on the edge of Pietermaritzburg. We're seeing their work amongst school children tomorrow.
No pictures today through lack of wi fi. Must do better tomorrow!
-- Posted from my iPhone
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