Hawks Care: Let's Build a Well in South Africa

Vital Stats

Jacob W

Rockwall, TX

  • people helped600
  • People Doing It250

The Problem

HIV/AIDS virus runs uncontrollably through South Africa. Mixed with a combination of poverty and incredibly challenging living conditions, despair seems to loom over the country. But all that will change. One factor in the HIV/AIDS pandemic is the lack of clean water. Because HIV/AIDS is an immune-weakening disease, any disease contracted due to stagnate water only quickens death by those infected with AIDS. For most, finding fresh water not only is difficult, but the task often takes up the majority of the day as most women must travel miles around every day just to survive. These people that live in rural South Africa are living at the most absolute form of poverty. Houses comprise of trash and anything else that is fashioned together to keep out the elements. The villagers themselves can’t afford shoes, and often only have one pair of clothing. For them the next meal is never a question of when, but if, it will come. It is these conditions and this community that I visited and served last summer in South Africa. One rural village in particular grabbed hold of my heart. The village is in the KwaZulu-Natal Province. Here, over 80% of the country is infected with HIV/AIDS. Together with the lack of fresh water, these conditions have created a community of orphans and impoverished elderly, robbing a people of an entire generation and teaching only despair to its children. So the project I wanted to undertake when I returned last fall would hopefully meet the physical needs of this community, and most of all, provide hope to a country in desperate need of a future. I wanted to help reduce HIV/AIDS in the region and provide easily accessible clean water to alleviate pain and to save lives in South Africa.

Plan of Action

The project was holistically a fundraiser that executed many avenues to generate funds including accepting donations and creating and selling t-shirts at my school. The main event however was a fundraising dinner to be held in my school’s cafeteria. The dinner, I decided, would be on December 4th. To plan for this event, I first had to ask permission to use the building and sell t-shirts at school from my principal. After filling out the necessary paper work and getting approval from him and the School Board, I was then concentrating on t-shirts. I worked with Themba Foundation President, Ken Hickman and his wife Kim, and among us we were able to create a t-shirt design and send it in to start making the shirt. After receiving the shirts, I began selling them during lunch and at my local church and soon I began to see them everywhere. While continually selling shirts at school during the whole month of November, I embarked on an aggressive campaign to advertise the dinner by getting Student Council involved and taking advantage of social websites such as Facebook, to spread the word. I also spoke frequently at my church and was able to raise money through donations and t shirt sales there as well. Then the dinner event needed to be planned and have the details hammered out. Finding a caterer, creating tickets, selling tickets to the event, lining up speakers that went with me on the trip and everything down to the centerpieces on the table had to be figured out. With many hands helping, the dinner was a wonderful success with over 70 people attending. Through the dinner and all other fundraising means, we were able to raise over $11,000 more than the projected goal of $5,200. I have made an enormous impact. With the money we raised, not only will the well be drilled, but the extra money we raised will go directly to fund HIV/AIDS medicine and provide supplies and food to the region. It is hard to describe just how much this village will change for the better. The number of lives changed and saved is truly amazing. I think the impact of this event is best summarized by the mission statement of the whole project: “Our community can change another community for generations to come.” I truly believe that my community has so radically and positively changed another community that the effects will never be forgotten and they will be reaping the benefits for generations to come.
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Homelessness and Poverty

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