Yinhla 2018 OVC Celebration

YIHNLA COMMUNITY PROGRAMME refers to Yinhla, a xiTsonga word which means cornerstone. It stems from Psalm 118:22 (21st Century King James): “The stone which the builders refused has become the head stone of the corner”. The programme was crafted to heal stigmas related to HIV/AIDS that paralysed children and give hope to children affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. The vision of YINHLA was to heal child attrition, help fight exclusion and marginalisation, and open children to opportunities that will make them future the future “corner stone of Society”. This community Capacity building programme involved: caregivers training, nutritional support, educational support, economic support, developing chid protection framework, providing legal aid to orphans and vulnerable children, facilitation access to health care for children infected with HIV/AIDS, facilitating counselling for persons living with HIV/AIDS, empowering communities with prevention measures and education to fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS, providing shelter to child-headed families. Further activities included: providing spiritual and psychosocial support to caregivers, orphan and vulnerable children, organising holiday camps for Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), training facilitators and “Monitor and Evaluation” persons.

The programme utilized several evaluation parameters that encompassed: progress with psycho-socio-economic wellbeing of child headed families, mounting strategies to confront emerging challenges of orphan and vulnerable children on chid-headed families, learning lessons for the future, and sharing positive stories from child-headed families. The whole programme was sponsored by the Diocese of Tzaneen.

The pictures on this page show children from St Benedict Catholic Church dressed in traditional attire, performing Xibelani dance.