The first rural community that was identified by The Lonely Road Foundation as needing support was the Dikgale Clan in Limpopo Province, South Africa.

About Dikgale:

• An extremely poor community of approximately 80,000 people

• 15,000 children in school and under the age of 16

• 1,500 orphans and vulnerable children.

This community has a massive challenge of trying to support 1,500 OVCs. The elderly members of this community are also struggling as primary caregivers. When support for grandmothers is not available, the children they care for inevitably become vulnerable as a result. Considering the plight of grandmothers in this community, it is likely that our estimate of 1,500 OVCs is too low an estimate in terms of ‘vulnerable’ children.


The Project
In partnership with The Heartbeat Foundation, we have built 11 Drop-in Centres in the community, trained 132 caregivers to provide care and support to OVC, and ensure that from Monday to Friday 1,384 children are fed one meal a day. 

A partnership with Kaelo, a specialist HIV/AIDS consultancy and implementation service, ensures the delivery of quality HIV education. 

We also helped the community to establish The Ranti Grace Foundation. This local organization will help ensure the long-term sustainability of OVC initiatives in this community, since its own capacity has now been developed.


What’s Next in Dikgale?
Together, we are currently working on a feeding scheme for OVCs in this community, which will include the following:

1. Building food gardens which, with training and education, can be maintained by the community.
2. Building more drop-in centres, managed by locally trained caregivers, where OVCs can visit to be fed and potentially clothed.
3. Coordinating the registration for, collection and delivery of, food parcels from the Limpopo Province Department of Social Development and Health for every eligible OVC.