South African Shanty Town
South African Rural Village
In January 2008, InVision Human Services officially entered partnerships with James House, located near Cape Town, and Tlangelani Community Projects, situated in rural northern Limpopo Province. Both of these Isibindi project organizations focus on supporting child-headed households whose families have been disrupted due to the HIV-AIDS crisis. The epidemic has orphaned 3.5 million children in South Africa, where the incidence of HIV-AIDS is highest in the world.
Inspiration for the partnerships came about in 2007 when InVision Human Services’ Chief Executive Officer Ruth Siegfried visited South Africa as part of a delegation of Pennsylvania Association of Resources representatives, traveling under the umbrella of FICE-USA. During the trip, Ruth visited numerous nonprofit agencies, talked at length with service providers and got a taste of South Africa’s culture. She was so stirred by what she saw and so touched by the individuals she met that she felt compelled to form a deeper relationship with the country and its people.
Ruth believed that we as an organization and, on a broader scale, we as a country can choose to share our vast experiences delivering human services to assist people in other countries as they grow their own human services networks. And while InVision Human Services has much information to share, the South African organizations have much to teach us. Ruth was energized by the possibility of sharing staff exchanges, training and other resources between our organizations so that all involved parties can learn as much as possible from each other.
The first step toward developing these relationships was to create a committee charged with the responsibility of getting the partnerships off the ground. To date, the committee has successfully raised $1,200 quarterly to support our partners. But the quarterly donation represents the minimum level of our contribution. In order to launch more ambitious projects recommended by the committee, additional funds will be required. You can make a tax deductible donation by visiting our causes page on Facebook, or by mailing a check to us at:
InVision Human Services
12450 Perry Highway
Wexford, PA 15090
We welcome your support as we strive to have an impact not only in Pennsylvania, but also on an international scale. Please help us as we extend our hand to help others who can change the face of caring in their own country while having an effect on the services we provide here at home.
