Gadget Recycling

Greencoat Place, London Victoria. An oasis of calm in the heart of the city, so say the flyers. Not the vibrant hub of fundraising dynamism one might expect. But it is so... An innovative new project is afoot, one that aims to trade rich-world excess for development financing for the some of the world's poorest children.

The scheme, set up by young voluntary sector entrepreneur Sabrina Jantuah, and kick-started by veteran journalist Michael Smith, arranges the exchange of mobile phones, ipods, sat navs, cameras and games consoles, with web-sourced second-hand dealers for much needed cash that will go straight towards Khokela's support of Ikhaya Labantu and Eyabantu Educare.

Khokela, the UK arm of assistance for Ikhaya Labantu, arranges volunteer trips for willing people with useful skills who will spend a few weeks at the shelter providing services that are otherwise unaffordable in the local Langa township. Contributions to the new Gadget Recycling scheme go directly to the provision of food and blankets for the homeless, the upgrading of the antiquated plumbing system and the mending of the leaky roofs.

If you would like to donate to the scheme, please send your gadgets, (even unwanted and broken) to Hope in the Cities at 24 Greencoat Place, London, SW1P 1RD.

The Search For Tools

With Ian Pattle's Cape Town visit approaching, Ikhaya Labantu needs a couple of drills for urgent work on the shelter to proceed.

If you know anyone in Cape Town who can help us to find a 24 volt battery SDS drill, or an 18 volt battery drill/driver, please let us know!!

Funding comes through :D

News came through this week from local authorities that Ikhaya Labantu and Eyabantu Educare would be granted funding from social services. This is excellent news following months of frustrating parley with bureaucratic minors, and comes at a superb time as winter weather approaches and the need for a new roof over the creche becomes all the more evident.

Some interesting small print obliges the shelter's learning centre to put 250 people through employment advice for the funding to remain free-flowing, but this is nonetheless happy news for all in Langa.

Kate Pettit fires it up!

Recent addition to the Ikhaya Labantu management, Kate Pettit has been settling well, hitting the ground running and providing excellent assistance to the shelter staff and residents.

Among her early achievements, Kate has managed to get Ikhaya Labantu a spot in the local 'How to Help' Cape Town guide book, a reference point for local volunteers and donors that provides a great new outlet for shelter publicity. The famous guide book, found all over the city in shops and business centres, describes different community projects in Cape Town, what they do, and the best way that you, as a reader, could be of help.

She has also been liasing with Pearson, the world's leading educational publishing company, in order to help them work out their Corporate Social Responsibility goals alongside Ikhaya Labantu. Pearson are planning to provide training for Eyabantu Educare's teachers, as well as re-set the roofes on the babies side of the creche and on the learning centre, and provide new gas cylinders for the kitchen!!

This is all very exciting!

Pleasant Shock

The electricity has been turned on!! After months of never being on, at least in the men's side of the shelter, generous donations from friends in the UK have enabled a recent 'switch-on' that is a massive blessing as the darker and colder evenings of the South African winter begin to set in.

Happy prospects for IKL: Kate and Ian

We are excited to announce the presence of some kind and hard working volunteers from the UK. Kate Pettit, a development worker from Newcastle has recently begun a four-month stint at the shelter with the aim of furthering the service plan’s progress, and Ian Pattle, a generous plumber from Suffolk, has promised his expertise to the rebuilding of the shelter’s shower blocks for two weeks in July.

Project Development Officer: Applications Closed

We are no longer accepting applications for this role.

Visiting Ikhaya Labantu

Would you like to visit Ikhaya Labantu? Get taken out of your comfort zone and learn something outside the UK’s material world?

Khokela UK organises regular trips to visit Ikhaya Labantu, and we are always looking for skilled volunteers who wish to participate.

We are working to develop the sustainability of the shelter long term, encouraging UK-South Africa partnerships that enable people to fly out and give something worthwhile, at the same time as receiving a cross-cultural experience of equal benefit. We aim to build enduring relationships, so whilst some visits may be one-off, we want to see the benefits and connections continue to flourish.

Having the means to pay your own way would be beneficial for the purposes of these visits. Once you are in Cape Town we will to work with you to provide as much support as you need to ensure you experience the full richness and diversity of South Africa. Our aim is to ensure that you receive as much you are giving by way of experience, friendship and fun!

Current priorities at the shelter that we are seeking to address include

• Fixing the electrics in the dormitories;
• Fixing the laundry’s plumbing; fixing the showers and toilets in the shelter;
• Constructing some basic storage units for shelter residents;
• Replacing roofing panels over parts of the shelter.

If you want to travel out in person to get involved in sorting these issues out or have relevant knowledge, resources or contacts you want to share please get in touch at khokelamanagement@live.co.uk.

Capetown Reflections

The Khokela team recently returned from a fortnight in Cape Town . We spent much of our time in the township of Langa getting to know our colleagues at Ikhaya Labantu and the children and adults who use their services. We worked closely with the management team to draw up a list of priorities we can work on together. This will inform the design of upcoming volunteer trips linking the UK and Cape Town. We also got stuck into work on some pressing tasks around the site. This is a brief account of our time there.

We enjoyed fantastic hospitality, being treated to a traditional South African meal and invited out on a stroll around the township with some of the shelter residents as part of our own learning and development during the trip. We also had the opportunity to visit Robben Island Prison, where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were incarcerated during Apartheid, and explore the beautiful coastline of the region. These experiences served to illustrate the contrasts that exist in Cape Town; wealth and natural beauty co exist with extremes of economic deprivation and social exclusion and an oppressive, fractured past is matched by the hopes for a prosperous, united future.



Ikhaya Labantu works within Langa, the oldest of the suburban Townships in the Greater Cape Town area, to aid and develop the community, especially those in most need, primarily through offering crèche services to local children and housing to the homeless. Most local residents are of the Xhosa people, though we met people on our trip from all over the African sub continent, and in particular neighbouring Southern African Countries such as Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. There was no doubt that for people staying at the Shelter, Ikhaya Labantu is a Home, not just a place to stay. It was fantastic getting to know residents, hearing their stories and learning more about South African culture and history from people who live it.

Kitchen: With contributions supporters gave at our December event in London see previous posts) we were able to purchase two new gas burners to replace the ageing model that was being used in the shelter to cook. This has now been installed and is being used daily to cook for residents. We were able to transport donations of wheelchairs and clothes graciously provided by supporters in the UK and South Africa to the shelter.

Education: Ikhaya Labantu is going to begin running adult education classes for shelter residents and other local people. To support this new area of work we brought with us some printed learning materials in Information Technology, Literacy and Numeracy. Whilst in Cape Town we also acquired a storage cupboard, chairs and white board to furnish the room on site chosen for teaching.

Garden: On the second Sunday of our visit volunteers from the University of Cape Town joined us along with volunteers with the shelter to work on the garden area, originally installed by a visitor from the UK early last year. Last winter this yielded a healthy harvest of fresh vegetables for residents. Rubbish and weeds were cleared and a new fence erected to divide the garden and crèche and the UCT team has committed to visiting regularly to ensure the garden is cultivated.

Overall this was a really valuable experience, and we were privileged to have the opportunity to travel to Cape Town and share in the work of Ikhaya Labantu. The spirit and commitment of the volunteers that make its work possible is extremely motivating.



THANK YOU!
As a team we were aided in our endeavours by a number of supportive individuals and organisations. We would like to proffer big Thank Yous to
• Nobuntu & Nthombe Nkanyuza, Karen Belgians, Lungelo & all at Ikhaya Labantu
• Waltons Stationery
• Plastics For Africa
• Peter de La Cornillere & Bellville Rotary Club
• Brian Bohlmann & Claremont Rotary Club
• Jake Hoffman and The University of Cape Town ‘Reach Every Street’ Society
• Noloyiso Mtana
• Ben Baldock at New Look UK
• All who attended, performed and donated at the ‘Away in a Shelter’ Fundraiser

Whats Next
There are a number of larger needs which we will be recruiting volunteers to help address on upcoming visits. Watch this space for imminent advertising of these opportunities and for further updates on our work with Ikhaya Labantu.

Thank You!

A Massive Thank You to everyone who braved the elements and the eccentricities of London's transport networks to attend 'Away In A Shelter' last week, not least the performers who turned out to entertain us all on such a wet Winters evening! We raised over £200 for Ikhaya Labantu and will be posting up pictures from both the event and our upcoming trip in due course to share with you.

Happy New Year!