|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Our Community
The Port Elizabeth township communities - population: 400,000 - where Ubuntu works are in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. This 12 kilometer area has scant public and private infrastructure and a dearth of essential services. Access to adequate nutrition, sanitation, health care, housing and educational facilities remain a challenge for most children growing up in our communities. The residents in the townships are Black South Africans belonging to the Xhosa ethnic group. Port Elizabeth township communities are renowned for their deep engagement in the struggle against apartheid, organising through strong grassroots community structures. The region has a proud history as home to many of South Africa's most famous anti-apartheid leaders.
Today, the Port Elizabeth townships remain haunted by the legacy of systemic impoverishment and destabilisation of apartheid and are reeling from the devastation wreaked by the AIDS epidemic. The Eastern Cape is one of South Africa's poorest provinces, with the highest infant mortality rate in the country. Approximately 80% of the population is unemployed - household income is derived through the informal sector and social grants. The local economy is based primarily on the automotive industry with multinational companies historically establishing factories within the townships to exploit cheap, unskilled labor. Women find employment as domestic workers in Port Elizabeth and its suburbs, 10 kilometers from the townships. While progress continues in housing development, more than one-third of the population lives in informal settlements, made up of tightly clustered shacks, with the remaining living in overcrowded brick matchbox homes. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
The rapidly increasing number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Port Elizabeth highlights the drastic impact HIV/AIDS is having on our communities. |
|
|
HIV/AIDS in Port Elizabeth
With a 34.5% HIV prevalence rate in Port Elizabeth, every person in our target communities is affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Although general HIV/AIDS knowledge and awareness is high, most people do not know their HIV status. The first time most people discover their seropositive status is when they have already progressed to AIDS. Life expectancy has fallen to 46.9 years for men and 51.3 years for women.
Young women in the townships are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection; HIV prevalence in girls and young women more than doubles that of their male peers. High teenage pregnancy rates point to the incidence of unsafe sexual practices. Gender-based violence is both a cause and consequence of HIV infection; women in a relationship with a violent or domineering man are 50% more likely to contract HIV than women not involved in abusive relationships. Sexual assaults disproportionately affect young girls.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Annual Report 2006