Bambanani
The Bambanani Home-Based Care project operates in a depressing informal settlement with few facilities, called Dikathole. Residents live under the permanent cloud of fumes from a chemical factory next door, and share communal water taps and toilets, but as these are a long distance from some homes, sewage also runs down the streets. Though there are a few permanent houses, most are corrugated tin shacks with narrow alleyways, criss-crossed by illicit electricity cables. Unemployment and crime is high in this area.
Carers at the Home Based Care project look after about 60 terminally ill patients, most of whom receive Anti Retroviral drugs to combat AIDS. In addition, the project operates a small Day Care centre (a pre-school) for about 20 orphans, crammed into a small space that used to be a road. This is called the Little Angels Centre, and the orphans who attend are identified through the home-based care project.
The Bishop Simeon Trust contributes to both projects, with funds towards food parcels for HIV+ patients and nutrition for the orphans in the pre-school. At Christmas time, buckets are purchased and these are filled with various items such as soap, biscuits and sweets.