Mission Statement:
Isipho empowers the people of iNzinga, South Africa, to break the cycle of poverty and dependence one food garden at a time.
Guiding Philosophies:
The inherent worth and dignity of every person – This belief is the guiding force behind our efforts. There is inherent worth and dignity in every person, and every person should have the same opportunities and same access to the most basic fundamentals in life, no matter where they happen to be born. Adequate food and basic education are the two fundamentals we impact.
Help others help themselves – The cycle of poverty, to hand-out, to dependency, and more poverty needs to be broken. KwaZulu-Natal Province has the highest rate of AIDS in the world, and it is a crisis. There are great organizations helping those who truly can’t help themselves. But we also need to change the fundamentals that led to the current crisis and try to prevent the next crisis from happening. Our focus is to assist the people in iNzinga who are on the edge, to take that step forward so they don’t fall backward; help them build their own improved, self-sustaining future. We will give them the initial materials, training, and the opportunity for them to make their lives and their community better and completely self-sustaining.
The Tipping Point – By focusing energy on a few key points in a small area, one can “tip” a situation, a community, and create a cascading sequence of events that lead to big changes. Based on Malcolm Gladwell’s ideas for creating social change, we will focus exclusively on the village of iNzinga, and on the core poverty-inducing issues of malnutrition and illiteracy.
Non-denominational, non-proselytizing – South Africa is “The Rainbow Nation”; a place of amazing diversity; people, languages, cultures, nationalities, customs, and religions. We will eagerly work with any organization which shares common goals, and can improve our effectiveness or efficiency. We respect the good work done by many religious organizations throughout South Africa, but as part of respecting all the many diverse customs and religions of South Africa, we will not engage in nor support religious conversion as part of our work.
Learn about our programs, or find out how you can help.
