FOIL AIDS

 

Friends of Ikhaya Lobomi is registered as a charity and exists to support the work of the Ikhaya Lobomi group. It was founded by Peter and Phyl Holmes after a visit to South Africa in the Autumn of 2004 when they saw for themselves the tremendous need and the work that was being done. Since its foundation in Spring 2005 it has sent £7700 to the group in South Africa. Some of this was used to pay for the nappy machine described on the previous page; but much has been spent on medication and on the other charitable activities of Ikhaya Lobomi. In her most recent report, Patience says that she has been able to go to companies in South Africa, point to our support, and get extra funds from them.

Our funds have been raised through concerts, coffee mornings, bring and buy activities and many individual initiatives, including direct giving by standing order and running in the London marathon.

If you have any ideas as to how we can raise more money, or would like to raise money on our behalf, please get in touch with us at the address below. Donations made using Gift Aid allow us to claim back £2.80 for every £10 given. Regular standing orders are even more welcome since a steady income stream helps Ikhaya Lobomi to better plan their work. Please contact us for forms for this.With the new hospice Ikhaya Lobomi are expanding to help even more of their population with HIV/AIDS, and this will require more funding.

Address: FOIL AIDS, 87 Furniss Ave., Sheffield S17 3QN
Telephone: 0114 2351897 (Peter and Phyl Holmes) Email: Peter_Holmes@btinternet.com

Ikhaya Lobomi – the Home of Life

Ikhaya Lobomi was founded by Patience Mavata following the death of her sister from AIDS. It operates in the Valley of 1000 Hills in Kwa Zulu Natal and has an ambitious programme of relief for sufferers of AIDS and their families. It provides hospice care and medication for the ill and is in the process of building a larger hospice. It is run completely by people from the community, largely on a volunteer basis. It has an education programme to try to change attitudes to the causes of AIDS; it provides help and relief for affected families; it has a training programme for people to learn skills to support themselves and pays the school fees for children of affected families in so far as it has funds.
Patience Mavata

The FOIL of FOIL AIDS stands for Friends Of Ikhaya Lobomi. It is a charity based in Sheffield and is committed to helping all the work of the Ikhaya Lobomi group in South Africa.
 

Where is Ikhaya Lobomi?

Ikhaya Lobomi is based in the Valley of 1000 Hills north west of Durban in South Africa. It is next to a major tourist area. Although the area is naturally very beautiful the Zulu people here are poor and HIV/AIDS is rife. An estimated 15 to 20% of the adult males and 25 to 30% or the adult females are infected; the disease is also widespread amongst the children

 

A major part of the work is to run the hospice, and work has just started on a new and larger hospice for the patients. Major funding will be needed both for building and running this hospice. Another major source of help given by Ikhaya Lobomi is medication. A locally developed medicine costs about £9 per month per patient and is proving to be remarkably effective. The group also gives practical support to the affected community – especially the orphans.

A Testimony

Two measures of HIV/AIDS are CD4 (higher is more healthy) and the viral load (the lower the better). Faith Mbachu is HIV positive. Her CD4 was 177, now it is 475; her viral load was 490,000, dropped to 210,000 in October and is still improving. Her weight has increased from 45kg to 70kg and she is well on the way to recovery on the medication paid for by some of the funds from FOIL AIDS.

The Nappy Machine

People in the end stages of AIDS need a lot of nappies. This was a major ongoing cost for Ikhaya Lobomi. One of the initial ventures supported by FOIL AIDS was the purchase of a nappy machine. Without the funds we sent it is unlikely that this machine would have been purchased. The machine is now installed and running, saving the group a lot of money each month.

To visit Ikahaya Lobomi's own web site, click here.