Temba House provides hope in world of AIDS

When Lulu Boxoza started Temba Community Development Services in Mthantha, South Africa in 1999, she thought she would be involved in poverty alleviation, but people were so overwhelmed by the HIV/AIDS pandemic that her group quickly decided to provide HIV/AIDS education.

Temba House started with a small three-bedroom house and then a bigger house that could accommodate 15 to 20 people. Now a new house has 30 beds, as well as administrative offices that are doubling as a starting place for a library until a second phase can be built.

In 2005, PWRDF began providing $30,000 in annual operation funds to Temba and recommended the project to Canon Greg Smith, chair of the Huron Hunger Fund, and to Trivitt Memorial Church in Exeter, Ont., which has a bequest fund that is used for local and global initiatives.

With $167,000 from the fund, Temba bought land, started building in January 2008 and moved in in September.