Africa Project

Phelisanong

Pigs from CAT Kids in Phelisanong Chicken House

At the Garth Homer Society we work with the clients to figure out how best to set and meet their goals for personal development.  So in 2007 when the CAT Recycling Team opened the pages of Boulevard Magazine to read about a group called positivelyAfrica helping AIDS ravaged villages in Africa, they immediately started setting goals.

They contacted positivelyAfrica who matched them up with the Phelisanong Disabled Orphans HIV/AIDS Project in Lesotho, a group started by Mamello who provides a home and school for disabled children whose parents have died of AIDS or who have been abandoned due to their diabilities. Mamello also manges a farm, operates a pre-school and oversees a handicraft cooperative.

Mamello was interested in puchasing pigs for breeding to produce meat for the centre and to help feed the orphans in the surrounding villages.  So the clients decided to save the recycling money to buy pigs.  After months of work and 100% of the generous contributions of refundable recycling from our Community Partners, the clients raised not only enough money for pigs, but also for a chicken project, animal feed, buildings for the pigs, chickens and a cow, personal care products, clothing shoes, beds, medicine, road repairs and much more.

Since then the CAT team has raised more than $10,000 for the people of Phelisanong.  Clients have become articulate spokespeople for the project.  They made a presentation to the BCGEU that resulted in an additional $5,000 donation to help pay for a jeep for the village. To accomplish all this the recycling project has grown in leaps and bounds.  The team is out five days a week collecting bottles and cans from their community partners.

While the people of Phelisanong obviously benefit from this project, the CAT clients have gained a lot from their involvement.  They've increased their awareness of the world and they've formed friendships by exchanging letters and pictures with the people of Phelisanong.  Every day the clients spend collecting bottles they have the pleasure of knowing they've made the world a better place. 

NEXT PROJECT - Rachel's Home, Maputsoe, Lesotho

Currently the CAT Recycling Program is funding a $5,000 chicken project for 43 orphans living at Rachel’s Home in another Lesotho village, Maputsoe. The chicken house is near completion and the chickens will arrive soon.