Ecological agriculture; HIV/AIDS

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Background

Since a democracy was established in 1994 following the long years of apartheid (racial segrega-tion), South Africa has been working to build a democratic social system where all races can live in harmony. However, at present in South Africa the gap between rich and poor is growing. JVC has been working at grassroots level in poor urban areas and rural areas in South Africa since 1992 in or-der to bring back some of the confidence and hope that was lost during the apartheid years.

Summary of activities

1. Rural development

In rural areas where agriculture fell into decline under apartheid, black people now want to rekindle their own agricultural enterprises so that they will safely be able to feed themselves. In the Cara region of Eastern Cape province, we are carrying out train-ing on the effective use of local resources and "eco-logical agriculture".

In 2005 we supported processes such as dialogues between fellow farmers so that the farmers them-selves could develop a lasting system whereby eve-ryone would be able to work in harmony. As a result, more farmers have started to take it upon themselves to provide training to other farmers.

In July 2006, the project finished according to plan. Since then we have been monitoring the project four times a year.

2. HIV/AIDS

In South Africa, 12.9% of the population (5.5 mil-lion people) have been infected with HIV. HIV/AIDS has a particularly severe effect amongst poor people and children. However, the response of the South African government has been slow, especially in rural villages where there is little aid or information, and large numbers of people are not receiving care or medical treatment. JVC is cooperating with the Japa-nese NGO SHARE in the northern province of Lim-popo to support AIDS patient groups, children who have lost their parents through AIDS and people in-fected with HIV.

In 2005, we cooperated with the local NGO TVAAP (Tivoneleni Vavasati AIDS Awareness Pro-ject) to support an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign and to provide home-care for patients. We also cre-ated mutual support and information-sharing groups for HIV patients who have previously suffered from discrimination and isolation due to their illness.

In 2006, we strengthened the HIV patient support groups and we carried out training for the volunteers who provide home-care. We are also building kitchen gardens in order to boost nutrition and we are provid-ing support for children who are suffering after losing their parents to AIDS.

3. Support for disabled children

The Tebogo home for disabled children was estab-lished by a group of mothers of disabled children in a poor suburb of Johannesburg in 1992. Currently, there are 40 intellectually and physically disabled children at the center, which is managed by the local people.

In 2005, according to plan we finished supporting this project. In the final year, we provided support to enable the home to function independently.