SOLID - the Salt Spring Organization for Life Improvement and Development - is a not-for-profit society linking the people and community of Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, with communities in Africa. The organization focuses on grassroots projects related to addressing poverty, gender inequality and the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
In Lesotho, SOLID has embarked on a long-term project called Gardens of Hope. It links five Lesotho communities and seeks to address HIV-AIDS, education, land rehabilitation, sustainable economic development and food security in these communities. Through workshops and training offered at these projects, the Gardens of Hope project aims to teach community members about the value of organic agriculture/permaculture and to share skills in sustainable land use practices.
Project
Website: www.solidsaltspring.com
Director: Meron Moroz
In the barren hills of Lesotho, a remarkable young woman is providing a home for over fifty disabled children whose parents have died of AIDS. Mamello Lehlotha has been working since the year 2000 to give a safe haven to the mentally and physically handicapped. She oversees a resource center for disabled adults and children, several HIV-AIDS support groups, a farm, a pre-school, a handicraft cooperative and an outreach program that serves twenty villages in the area.
Above all, Mamello would like to see her children have the opportunity to get an education and SOLID is therefore requesting funds to build a schoolhouse for the orphanage. It will be constructed using the traditional methods of the Lesotho countryside: local stones for the walls and a thatched or corrugated metal roof. A schoolhouse for Ha Makhata will give these already-marginalized children a chance to reintegrate into society - and some hope for the future.
Additionally, we are seeking support that will cover school supplies and school furniture and that will pay teachers salaries for a several-year period. The community is also urgently in need of a truck to transport children to the medical clinic and for outreach efforts. Several additional dormitories are planned and further along, we hope that a medical clinic can be built and staffed in Ha Makhata.
Further information: www.solidsaltspring.com/schoolhouse.html
Project Co-Director: Peter Schnitzler
In January of 2007 two Salt Spring Islanders will travel to Africa to volunteer their time, skills and energy. Beth Gessinger, a retired nurse, and Anna Callegari, a pharmacist, will spend 11 weeks in clinics, hospitals and villages in Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho. Sala Hantle Africa is their combined vision of individual response to the AIDS pandemic.
Their goal is to provide direct patient care for people suffering from HIV/AIDS and to help support those affected by the AIDS crisis in some of the highest prevalence countries of sub-Saharan Africa. As they travel through this diverse range of facilities they will:
Further information: www.solidsaltspring.com/salahantleafrica.html
Co-Director: Anna Callegari
Website
Credits
Modified: 2007-02-17