Our Strategy

A key element in our strategy is to work with and through staff that we have employed from the communities in which we work. This gives the staff background knowledge and understanding of the community in which they serve. At present our work is established in Wards 1 and 2 of the Msunduzi Municipality. The population at last Census (2011) was about 40 000 people. We are expanding into Wards 3, 4 and 5 which will expand the population of the communities reached to over 60 000.

Left: A community like this, bathed in sunshine, belies the social, spiritual and economic reality that lies beneath the surface.

Left: The beauty of rolling hills and summer green further obscure the reality underlying this community.

[The community is characterised by high levels of unemployment (>25% of all people of employable age are unemployed and this percentage is higher in the <30 year age group). A spiralling social development crisis has engulfed our society resulting in few families with father and mother. Most are single parent households and many of these are 3rd and 4th generation of single parent households. This, coupled with low levels of understanding children and their needs, provides a seed bed for drug and alcohol abuse (by adults and teenagers) often coupled with abuse of woman and children.]

Thus, in the context of seeking to rescue, restore and empower people Hope Trust employs 4 full-time and another 3 part-time members of staff. These staff members are the hands and feet on the ground enabling them to:

• respond to calls for assistance in times of crisis (food, clothing, prayer, housing). This assistance is available first to children, widows, foreigners, single parents struggling to raise children with little experience, background or knowledge.
• proactively engage with the communities in which they work (because they are known to their communities) and to mobilise interest in:
  • developing home gardens,
  • participating in parenting and small business skills training; and
  • savings and credit groups,
  • children’s reading and gospel clubs which facilitate social interaction after school hours through play, reading, extra tuition when needed, prayer and teaching gospel stories.

Left: Our two welfare staff engage with about 30 to 35 families monthly on welfare related matters.

Left: Our development staff interact with 30-35 savings and credit groups with a membership of more than 300 members. Each savings group is the nucleus of a small community (in which there are usually high levels of trust) and provide a focus for saving, financial literacy skills, small business and parenting skills training.

We impact the lives of +- 500 people people every month.

Our staff all share the love of God with the clients they interact with and wherever there is a willingness will provide opportunities for prayer and bible study.

As our budget expands, we hope to be able to offer “safe houses” in the community to which orphaned and abused children may be taken while decisions are made as to where best to place them. (We believe in the model advocated by Give a Child a Family, that if possible, it is better to place orphaned and vulnerable children with trained and equipped families in the community from which they come.)

As further funding comes in, so we can expand into Wards 6-9. For every two new Wards in which we work, we need another four full-time staff and several part-time staff.