About Nzinga
Nzinga is an extremely remote hillside Zulu village at the end of 25km of dirt road in the Impendle Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. It is arid, mostly sunny, spare and stunningly beautiful. It is blessed with a reliable supply of clean water from springs on Impendle Mountain, yet suffers from very high rates of malnutrition, illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, crime, infant mortality, and HIV/AIDS.
iNzinga home and outhouse; Impendle Mountain in background.
The people are Zulu; proud, generous, and easy to smile. All speak the Zulu language, and most speak English and Zulu. People primarily live in traditional mud rondavels with thatched roofs.
There are no jobs or employment opportunities except for a few teachers and government administrators. Women constitute the large majority of the population as most adult men have either left the village to find work in big cities and send home money (and return rarely due to the cost), or have died of AIDS.
Eighty-six percent of people in this area live below the South African poverty line (many live on less than $2 per day). The unemployment, illiteracy, crime rates are all 50 percent or higher. The HIV/AIDS infection rate is the highest in the world. Most of the crime is property theft and domestic violence, as is common with this level of poverty. Most income is in the form of government subsidies and money sent from fathers and husbands working afar.
Despite the life these daunting figures allude to, our experience is that the majority of people in Nzinga are kind, warm people who are willing to work hard for a better life for themselves and the betterment of their community.
This is a community of great need. And a community of great value; a community small enough and hard-working enough that they can drastically improve their own lives with just a little bit of the right help overcoming poverty and disease and lack of jobs that have overwhelmed them.
Helping this village get from its knees to its feet will be our gift (our isipho) to them. Once on their feet, they will be able to add their gifts to the world. And they are gifts of great value.
To learn more facts about the local village of Nzinga, Impendle Municipality, and KwaZulu Natal Province, please read the “Nzinga Area Information” section of our FAQ. If you would like to support programs for iNzinga, find out how you can help.