Mamkhulu

The Litsemba Centre - History of the Property

The Litsemba Centre (The Hope Centre) is a project supported by  Mamkhulu.org and the Ebhuleni Royal Charity, part of the tribal authority of Daantjie, Pienaar in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.

The Litsemba Centre is a place where skills and visions are merged in order to support orphans and vulnerable children and youth in the local community. 

In late 2009, the former “Fundza Centre” (now the Litsemba Centre) was donated to Mamkhulu.org. Four organizations decided to work together to develop it as a hub for youth development and support in the area. In the days of the former Kangwane Homelands, this centre was built by Chief Daantjie as a commercial centre for the community.  A number of small businesses grew up inside its walls. In 2003 it was abandoned and until 2009, it was a place where local people stored their various goods.  

The organizations first came together to renovate and re-create the centre to become a place of refuge for various young men who were in need of shelter. These young men formed the core group of the residents in the centre, and the dreams for the future were built around the skills of all those involved. The group also realized that the centre had huge potential as a community youth centre because of its central location in the township.

With the youth as the builders, with guidance from some older people, the renovations have taken place. Some of these youth who took ownership of the centre and began the renovations had started out as street kids themsleves in the local community.

Through the work of the pastoral team, they began to learn the skills of laying bricks and plastering. Some of the walls were not straight, some of the floors not flat, but the pride that developed in the youth was worth the challenges.

As their skills developed, they began to move more quickly, and under the tutoring of the older men, they learned how to plumb lines, put in pipes, lay bricks, and plaster the walls. They learned how not to paint everything in sight when painting a wall and how to work as a team even when there were differences in opinion.

Today the centre has a toilet block, storage rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2 training rooms, offices, counseling rooms, and a large garden area for learning farming skills. Best of all, the centre has already become a place where youth from the community can congregate and learn together. Sitting on bricks, they join the bible studies and plan together.

It is a place where boys can be housed who are in need of emergency shelter if necessary.  This fulfills its mandate as a safe house and also provide for youth in need on a longer term basis.

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