Hope&Joy Banner made by the women of Kopanang Community Trust

April 2001 Kopanang Community Trust had its beginnings, driven by the need to help women desperately in need of community support from the impact of HIV/AIDS, as well as to provide a sustainable financial income to feed their families and extended families, bringing together two historically divided communities, African and so-called Coloured. The name was chosen by the women, Kopanang, a Sotho word meaning 'bringing together'. It is situated about 55Km south-east of Johannesburg in the bleak mining area that includes Tsakane, Kwa Thema and Geluksdal.

Women continue to come together to share the hope for a different future by the way they embrace the reality of endemic struggle and sickness, learning skills that will lift them in to a new awareness of the power of community,and enabling them to share their cultural and spiritual stories. Kopanang products are not just an item; they are original in their design, vibrant in colour, African in expression. More than that, they are beautiful, tactile expressions of hope and women's empowerment. They are works of art and testimony to the human spirit prevailing against continual loss, death, sickness and despair.

The Kopanang Community Trust provides the following range of services:

• A community of women 'walking the walk' with one another in all their struggles
• A community that shares and celebrates its cultural and spiritual diversity
• Skills training in embroidery, bead-making, quilting and screen-printing
• Human resource development:  communication, conflict management
• Computer training, driving lessons and leadership training
• HIV/AIDS ongoing training and education
• Outreach programme for sick members and their immediate neighbours. Providing some medical support, as well as immune building cereal, vitamins, home visits, as well as accompaniment to hospitals and clinics, funeral and bereavement support
• A weekly art class for the orphans
• Dikeledi (meaning, long tears) therapy group – a forum for members to share their life stories, particularly their sorrows and struggles.  They produce creative quilts that express their voice, their beauty and their hope
• Skills training and community building to two sister projects in KwaNdebele, and in Hlabisa, Kwa Zulu Natal, along with marketing support, as well as training supplied to six other projects
• Immersion programme for overseas students with Kopanang host families

Kopanang Community Trust contact details:

Phone/Fax: 011 738 9306 /7038

Email: kopanangwg@mweb.co.za

Or contact:

Sister Sheila Flynn OP
 

sheilaflynn@ymail.com

website: www.kopanang.org