The Grace Foundation UK

Mponegele Ke Itirele is a UK registered charity and non-profit community project helping AIDS and other orphans in a rural area 200 miles north-east of Johannesburg in South Africa.  The project currently feeds nearly 200 orphans a day from villages in the area, ranging in age from birth to 18 years.  In 2006 funding from the Grace Foundation UK enabled an existing borehole to be brought to life, providing a source of fresh water for the irrigation of their vegetable crops and for cooking.

The project works with local people who act as care givers to the children, a role often performed by an older sibling or a grandmother.  They are teaching the children to grow their own vegetable and mealies (maize). One of the villages Ga-Magowa, previously had no access to fresh water which was a major problem.  During the dry season, from March through to November, the children previously had to take plastic water containers in wheelbarrows to a tap over half a mile away to obtain the water. This is used for both cooking and washing, but it was not always possible to bring enough, with very little left for growing the vegetables.  The Provincial Department of Water Affairs used the Ga-Magowa site to test one of their drills and found water at a depth of 120 metres.  The project needed help with funding to buy a water storage tank, pump and associated pipe work to allow the bore hole to be made operational.   The Grace Foundation UK was delighted to be able to fund this initiative.  The project now has a continuous supply of fresh water, which enables the children to grow a good supply of vegetables.  This has made an enormous difference to the lives of both the care givers and the orphans.   Not only do the vegetables provide food, but the cultivation process provides excellent training, teaching the children to grow their own vegetables and helping to make them more self-sufficient for the future.