In MArch 2007, Mufumbe Mateso, Project-Director of PWC wrote the following to Soweto Connection:

On behalf of the Power of Women and Children @ South Africa, I am seizing this opportunity to thank your organisation for the incredible efforts you are making in helping our organisation to achieve its goal and objectives to lift up the voiceless and vulnerable people mostly women and orphaned children as well as people infected and affected by Aids in our Country.

We understand that it is not easy thing to raise funds but you have done and continue to do a huge job by approaching individuals and institutions willing to help the poor and marginalised people across the World.

He also enclosed photographs and a DVD of their Graduation ceremony in December 2006. In that ceremony 10 orphans were graduated after completing pre-school education provided by PWC volunteers. The children are now in primary schools.

Here are some of the photos:

Mufumbe also enclosed details of progress on the building of their Day Care Centre which is being funded by Irish Aid through Soweto Connection (see below):

Sheila visited PWC while in South Africa in October 2006. Here she is photographed with care givers and volunteers outside PWC's centre.

Thanks in part to a donation from Donoughmore National School confirmation class of 2005/2006, PWC were able to buy groceries and other essential itrems for orphans and needy children. In total 42 children benefited from the donation

Mufumbe, Project-Director of PWC, sent the following photographs of the children.

Orphans taking their meals at the Day Care Centre in Tshepisong	Orphans playing outside in the yard at the Day Care Centre
Orphans receiving blankets (August 2006)	Older children line out in set of soccer jerseys supplied by Soweto Connection (July 2006)

On March 6th 2006, Sheila of Soweto Connection visited PWC, bringing sets of jerseys from our "Jerseys for Africa" appeal. She spent a day with Felix, project manager with PWC. It was a typical day in the lives of the PWC volunteers and clients,, and here's what she had to say about it:

Felix picked me up at the hotel, with the soccer gear. Kosi, an Amazulu woman who works with the group was with him. We drove out to Benoni to collect a donation of yoghurt for the kids, and then to Tshepisong, to the daycare centre. Tshepisong is a big sprawling township of both RDP houses and shacks, spread over some hills outside of Roodeport. The daycare centre is tiny, comprising one small brick room, and a double galvenised shack in which 45 small children were having “sleep time” on the floor lined with unfolded cardboard cartons. The kids were only too happy to wake up and come out and try on their new jerseys , and seemed really delighted with them. I took some pictures. The other full strips will be used by Felix to set up some teams in the area, and have a tournament.

I took a few pictures around the daycare. It's basic in the extreme. The cooking for the 45 kids and the older 10 who are in primary school is all done on a small 2-ring electric stove, with one electric kettle and a large freezer the only other equipment. The women who care for the kids are all volunteers and completely unpaid. The kids are really happy and excitable. Most are orphans, some have lost a single parent, or are being cared for by a Gogo (granny).

Felix took me around with two of the home care volunteers, Nonhlanhla Gononda and Nelisiwe Mbatha, on some home visits. Nonhlanhla gave me lost of information about the patients, and the situation there. She and Nelisiwe visit about 20 patients between them, on a daily basis from Monday to Friday. This demands an incredible dedication, given that they must walk considerable distances between the houses. Nonhlanhla also visits one or two of the patients nearest to her house at the weekends. One of these is ---. She is 47, but looks far older. She lives with her husband, and they have no children. She is sick, but not HIV+. Nonhlanhla washes her every day, tends to her rashes and sores, cooks for her etc. Her husband drinks, and when drunk, towards the end of the month, becomes verbally abusive, hides the food, etc. --- is completely dependant on the two volunteers.

The next call was to Mama ---, who was out taking treatment at the nearby clinic. We then called to ---, a gogo living with her adult daughters, who is meantally disturbed as well as ill. They live in a small tin shack, and the heat inside combined with the small of paraffin was terrible. The daughters were very happy with the gift of Yoghurt that Felix had brought along, and talked to Nonhlanhla about their mothers care, and the possibility of getting her a wheelchair so they could get her to the clinic (about a mile away on the red dirt roads). Felix is going to look into the possibility of getting one donated. They also asked about pilani (e-pap) which is something that is very important for these patients, but is only sporadically available.

The last person we visited was ---, who is 46 years old with full-blown Aids. He lives with his wife who has tested negative for HIV. They have a son of 19, who no longer lives at home. --- is very ill, extremely thin, though on this occasion Nonhlanhla was surprised to find him up and dressed when we visited. He spoke passionately in a mixture of Isizulu and English about how important it was to him that the two volunteers called, how good they were to him, making him tea, bringing him pilani and samp, making tea, and counselling him.

We went back to the daycare centre, and I played with the kids for a while. They loved seeing pictures of themselves on the digital camera, showing off their few words of English etc.

We then drove across to Krugersdorp for a donation of vegetables, then back to the centre, then back to the PWC office next door to Johannesburg Stadium. Felix talked me through all the activities of PWC, the training they do in the CBD in computers and sewing, and all their funding possibilities. They are quite dependent on donations from groups such as Soweto Connection. We also discussed the long-term prospects for the kids in the daycare. Once they start primary, they will need books, uniforms, stationary, school fees and so on. We agreed that they really need ongoing support, to help them through these years.

Photographs ...

Felix outside the PWC Daycare Centre	Some of the orphans at the Centre wearing jerseys brought over from Ireland

Felix, Nonhlanhla and Nelisiwe, photographed on one of the home visits.	The home of one of the patients visited by PWC volunteers.

Some of the orphans being cared for by PWC, photographed outside the Centre.