In August 2005, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Poolesville, Maryland joined with their new friends in Richmond, South Africa establishing a partnership to address the most critical needs of this small community in the heart of South Africa. Efforts are focused in several key areas, including nutrition, health, sanitation and employment. In less than three years, this alliance has grown to include Rotary International, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Christ Church in Rockville, Maryland, the Monocacy Lion's Club of Poolesville, the Anglican Church in Standbridge East, Quebec, Canada and concerned individuals around the world. Adopting a community of 9,000 people with an unemployment rate of more than 70% and an HIV infection rate in excess of 35% is a daunting task. Together we have brought an element of peace and love to one small place on earth and together we are making a difference, one person at a time.
At the beginning, nearly two years ago, we discovered we needed to start by reinforcing the basic principles of pride and dignity that this community had lost in the social turmoil and political transitions of the past several decades.
With the strong support of our local South African partners in the Richmond community, including the Dutch Reformed Church, the Town of Richmond and St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, our efforts are enhanced and we can focus our resources with local direction.
Richmond is located on the south western tip of Africa.
Community Center
We observed and heard from residents that Richmond suffers from a lack of community pride. To help address this problem we are developing a Community Center that will provide a safe and secure environment for the youth and adults of Richmond. By renovating the existing soccer facility, we will have a central location in the community to foster community pride through activities and programs. Clean bathrooms and offering a continuous soup kitchen were our first projects established in 2005. Indoor and outdoor recreational areas, meeting spaces and a youth library are just several more of the important ingredients in our efforts to establish a community center in Richmond. Continued renovations and upgrades are now in progress at the Community Center in order to have these components as well as HIV outreach services all offered at this location.
HIV Education for Richmond’s Youth
Working together with the Dutch Reformed Church, St. Mathew's Anglican Church, Rotary International and our other partners, a new alliance was established to bring Grassroots Soccer (GRS), an internationally acclaimed organization dedicated to social change in the arena of HIV prevention, to Richmond. GRS’s (grassrootsoccer.org) innovative approach to fighting HIV uses soccer as the vehicle to engage children, at the same time, providing education on life skills, healthy behavior and the risks of HIV/AIDS on themselves, their neighborhoods and their community. In February 2008, two young women were hired to lead the GRS program in Richmond. Their offices are located in the Community Center. Housing and transportation for these workers is provided by the local community. GRS’s philosophy is “it takes a village” to sustain lasting change. Training for 12 community leaders was completed in March 2008 and these local educators will assist in instructing and spreading the message of HIV prevention.
Upgrading Local Health Care Options
In 2008, our efforts to augment the local healthcare system have reached new heights through the efforts of our medical outreach team. Doctors, nurses, physicians’ assistants and other healthcare providers have come forward to volunteer their time. In February, a team of these professionals, in collaboration with our Richmond partners, conducted health assessments of 50 households in the Richmond region to develop an understanding of how we can best provide direct support, training and supplies to the Richmond healthcare providers. From the assessments, the team identified specific needs such as medical supplies like wheelchairs, canes crutches, disposable gloves, Bactrim, fluconazole tablets, Cipro and Coban. As well as training for HIV workers, x-ray technicians and alcohol and HIV counselors as well as dependable transportation to deliver supplies from key areas in South Africa to Richmond.
Sanitation
The lack of proper sanitation in Richmond seems partly connected to Richmond's core problem, the lack of personal and community pride. While Richmond has a sewage treatment plant, a potable water system and sewer pipes in place, sanitation in the community is sorely lacking. To address the sanitation issues, we have upgraded the Anglican Church bathrooms, running sewer and water lines and installed two new flush toilets with toilet paper holders, soap dispensers, paper towel dispensers and a hand sink. We had hand-washing stations installed at the soup kitchen and refurbished bathrooms and locker rooms at the Community Center. With our Richmond and Rotary partners, all the bathrooms in the high school were renovated to provide clean and sanitary facilities for students and teachers alike. In addition, Rotary International agreed to use funds to purchase new pumps that operate the sewage system and a small mobile generator for backup power in case of power outages.
Employment
Employment is the largest challenge to address in Richmond. With unemployment more than 70%, joblessness feeds the cycle of poverty that grips the population. Our goal is to find opportunities that utilize existing skills to produce a marketable product in order to create jobs. With support from local businesses, the Sabelo Woman’s Project was established. The women are learning valuable skills not only about how to produce items such as placemats, potholders and other items, but also about pricing, budgeting and fundamental business practices. Currently, we have two sewing locations within Richmond. One is located in the town proper and the other is located at the original location in the Xhosa area of the town known as Sabelo.
In addition, we have initiated a small micro lending program. In late 2006 we received a donation of some funeral equipment that we in turn sold via a small loan to a local Richmond funeral business to assist in their development. The proceeds of the loan payments will be used to fund future loans to other small businesses. We hope to greatly expand this effort by making equipment available through such loans to encourage the growth of business.
Local Leadership
Inall of our efforts, we have focused on establishing partnerships to achieve the most success. In order for our efforts to be sustainable, we have created local connections among Church and community leaders in the Cape Colored, Xhosa and white communities. In February 2008, we were hosted by the white community to begin the dialogue with local leadership within the Richmond community - Cape Coloreds, Xhosas and whites – to ensure sustainability of the projects that we have initiated there. A dialogue was also established in a meeting with St. Matthew’s Anglican Church Community and Bishop Oswald Swartz. As a result of this meeting, a link committee was proposed to provide a forum for feedback between our organization and St. Matthew’s to create and increase ownership of local initiatives by St. Matthew’s members. For a town long forgotten due to location, weather, and government, our efforts demonstrate that there is an alternative to poverty and hope for the future.
