Umzi – The Full Report
THE UMZI WETHU: ADDRESSING SOCIAL NEEDS WITH CONSERVATION SOLUTIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA
Within 10 years, the number of children in South Africa without both parents is estimated to more than quadruple to an estimated 4.7 million – even with a full roll out of anti-retrovirals and other programs to address the HIV/AIDS crisis. Today funding emphasizes preventative measures. However, the fact is that the number desperately poor and uneducated youth has rapidly increased and is already having a profound effect on South Africa.
South Africa has only limited ability to respond to this crisis. With declining numbers of productive adults, community capacity to supply basic elements of survival such as food and shelter is saturated. The Minister of Finance signaled a cutback on state welfare spending. School fees and uniforms required for public education are out of the question. Parental guidance and accompanying non-formal education, such as how to care for younger siblings, are lacking. OVCs in the foster care and orphanage systems often face abuse and violation of basic human rights. Discrimination because of the stigma of AIDS and being an orphan severely limit their opportunities to advance. Few plans deal with the uninfected but displaced children. Care institutions may absorb the HIV-positive, but leave the HIV-negative without options, and in towns they are easily lured by gang leaders and drug-lords.
Umzi Wethu harnesses the opportunity offered by eco-tourism growth and invites OVCs aged 13-18 in urban areas to join the Umzi Wethu training and educational programs in sponsored residential secondary schools placed outside game reserves. The Umzi strategy is both simple and effective, combining the warmth and guidance of a lasting family relationship, the strength of traditional culture, the liberation of education and job skills training, and the energy of unfolding environmental awareness and commitment.
Read about the connection between Environment and AIDS (PDF) >>>
Umzi Wethu provides a safe and nurturing environment while also preparing youth to be productive and successful in life. The program targets those orphans who have no family and no options for placement – those most at risk of being lost to society. It provides a family environment with caretakers from the community and mentor-elders supplanting the fundamental parental role and relationship conveying local culture, respect for life, and values like honesty and compassion. It also teaches concepts such as reproductive health, gender equity, and the value of wild nature. Counseling will address psychological wounds incurred with death in the family and low self-esteem wrought by the stigma of HIV/AIDS.
The program utilizes the close connects of The Wilderness Network with local care-giving, training and conservation organizations and game parks. Internships with hands-on opportunities to learn and practice skills in the field are incorporated with classroom learning. Experiences in the surrounding natural areas, such as guiding and tracking in the game reserve, instill a sense of personal responsibility while generating leadership and environmental management skills. Upon graduation, Umzi Wethu students are offered positions with nature and game reserves or with other partners.
The goal of Umzi Wethu is to turn a displaced generation of the AIDS pandemic into leaders of a better future for South Africa. In place of disaffected and stigmatized youth, Umzi nurtures young people with hope, confidence, vision and skills, who are also aware of the critical need for wildlife and natural resource protection and are custodians of their environment and society and potential conservation leaders.
The Umzi Wethu concept has broad support. The program is endorsed formally by the International Conservation Caucus, a bi-partisan group of 54 U.S. Congressmen. WF and WILD have briefed the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, Assistant Secretary of State, and Chief Medical Officer of the U.S. Global AIDS Office. Umzi Wethu is endorsed by the South African Human Sciences Research Council and the South Africa Conservation Group and various AIDS non-governmental organizations. View partners >
