ANSA International Program Blog

We started our first team trip in South Africa by getting acquainted with Cape Town, enjoying lunch hillside above the acacia trees at Rhodes Memorial, ambling the splayed expanse of table mountain, and sipping evening sundowners from the shores of Camps Bay.  Monday morning began the marathon two weeks of meetings, township tours and robust community discussions to get our South Africa partnership off to a highly productive, warm and spirited start.  The staff were fabulous, allowing us to sit in on program updates and talking frankly about their challenges related to food and nutrition.  We toured creches, senior centers, clinics and garden programs, always welcomed with song and smiles (photo courtesy of Patrick Schultz).  We also met with several non-profit organizations with whom Ikamva Labantu works.  We were fortunate to have an  opportunity to thoroughly understand the challenges and opportunities at hand as we begin our work with Ikamva Labantu. 

Outcomes: Our South African partners are at a time of significant evolutionary change.  There is a terrific sense of directional shift, with a broader focus on opportunities within Black Economic Empowerment programs and an extensive review of infrastructural needs in the context of their new multi-purpose center business model.  (Seventeen MPCs are planned, five are already built.)  New CEO Ishrene Davids is gracious and amazing in her compassionate approach to staff and community development.  She gave an eloquent talk to the staff in closing a weeklong series of program meetings, saying, "You have given us your best this week, and most of you have done so in a language that is not your own.  You have been amazing and we thank you.  We may have many languages, but we have only one voice - the voice of love and purpose." 

It's an exciting time, and everyone recognizes there is much to do.  Therefore, our initial partnership plans will focus significantly on core capacity building to ensure sustainability of all programs within the new business model.  The partners agreed to address resource and leadership development and monitoring and evaluation along with health and nutrition programming.  These will be the key building blocks upon which a successful - and truly purpose-focused - partnership is built.  (The monitoring and evaluation framework will be the model we use for Namibia and for the ANSA program overall, so big thanks to AIDS Project Los Angeles for their contributions to this portion of the partnership work!)

And next - see you in Namibia!

Peace to all...Mary

ANSA helps strengthen and support organizations by providing them with, or linking them to, resources that can help them deliver quality nutrition programs in their communities.  We were born out of a culture of information and resource sharing, understanding that collaborating together makes us individually and collectively more successful.  Our work in the international arena is the same, so part of my job is to determine which resources we can provide to our Africa partners, and which resources are available in their own local and national communities that we can link them to.  We love networking.

Before getting started with partnership activities between the U.S.-based teams and our global partners on this return trip to Africa, I first needed to stop at the small industrial town of Port Elizabeth, located along the central coastlne of South Africa, several hundred miles northeast of Cape Town.  I was there to look at a few programs I thought might be good regional sources of information or support, particularly the Ubuntu Education Fund, a highly regarded organization with programs similar to our partner Ikamva Labantu but with a more locally focused geographic reach.  The folks at Ubuntu spent the day showing me some of their many inspiring programs and they took me to my first true community HIV education workshop, held under a tree with men on one side and women on the other.  At the end of the day we had great discussions about ways that ANSA, Ikamva Labantu and Ubuntu may be able to work together. 

While at Ubuntu I met several staff, including a wise-beyond-her-28-years case manager named Fezeka, and several program participants, including the two pictured with me here, Zethu and Nandiba.  Zethu (middle) is 17 years old and a longtime head of her household.  Nandiba is 15, and also head of her household.  I am only 5'3", so I could tell both girls showed clear signs of stunted growth, a frequently seen condition among African children due to early childhood malnutrition.  While these girls represent two common concerns - child-headed households and the affects of childhood malnutrition - they also represent something else found in African youth: a powerfully resilient spirit. 

The day I met Zethu she had just received a FedEx package containing autographed photos of her with Bill Clinton, taken when she delivered a speech at the Clinton Global Initiatives meeting in April at the request of Mr. Clinton.  Take just a few minues to hear Zethu's bold story of resilience, and Fezeka's equally polished and powerful introduction here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ZkUVoxdcc.  You'll see right away why ANSA is proud to be working with the current and future leaders of Africa.

Stay tuned for exciting news about the first team activities - including the blossoming relationship between Ubuntu and Ikamva Labantu!

Peace to all...Mary