Community Philanthropy Begins at Home

Initiating and sustaining a dynamic programme of care – aptly termed Gentle Care - has earned Ivonne Gentle the 2010 Inyathelo Award for Women in Philanthropy. Gentle Care  helps and cares for sick people in the remote district of Britstown in the Northern Cape and as a result, an amazing change has come about in the lives of people.  The Inyathelo Philanthropy Awards is a programme initiated by Inyathelo – The South African Institute for Advancement to constantly acknowledge and encourage social giving and philanthropy in South Africa.

Gentle’s award is in recognition of the action she took after witnessing the dire need for health support in households in Britstown and surroundings, linked directly to the poverty that ruled her community.

Having cared for her three sick siblings – all of whom died of cancer - since the age of six, Gentle felt the urge to continue caring for people with life-threatening illnesses, especially those with no one to give them the help they needed.

"What I saw was heart-breaking: horrific scenes of people in poverty and some suffering from diseases they knew nothing about. I could not take it anymore. I had to do something,” she said.

As a result, she started caring for people from her husband’s garage, furnished with only two beds.  For seven years, Gentle went from door to door in the community offering care and support to the very sick and frail. Then in 2007 she established the Gentle Care Centre and took in all those who could not be helped in their homes.

The challenge facing her was daunting: “We have 6,500 people living in this community of which 80 % are unemployed and 82% are HIV positive,” she said.

In a community where there is such a high HIV prevalence, much help is needed. Gentle Care has managed to mobilise four volunteers, two private doctors and two private sisters. They give freely of their time and professional expertise to the centre, which has now managed to increase the number of beds from two to 11.

“Since we started, people have learnt to open up their hearts and so many wonderful things have happened. It has been great to see just how they have changed.”

In terms of sustaining Gentle Care Centre, the centre makes products like homemade bar soaps and liquid soaps, cards and gift bags which are sold in shops in Kimberley, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

“We are hoping that our soap and card range will hit the market in a big way to create a number of job opportunities and support Gentle Care in moving forward,” she said.

Besides the essential care given to the sick, Gentle Care also: 

• Built the centre themselves, with Gentle’s own money and resources, together with help from friends in London.
• Doees house calls where needed.
• Makes printed t-shirts which they sell to generate funds to keep the centre sustainable.
• Works with CANSA, hospice, old age homes in the community and the Department of Social Development.
• Hosts workshops to teach skills to the community to make things to sell, generating money for the centre.
• Conducts silkscreen classes to help finance the centre.
  
  Now in their fourth year, the Inyathelo Philanthropy Awards run on the basis of a public call for nominations, whereby nominees are nominated by their peers and members of the communities in which they work and by the non-profit organisations that they support. Nominations are made for a particular category such as Women in Philanthropy, Youth in Philanthropy, Community Philanthropy and Lifetime Achievement in Philanthropy.

For more information, go to www.philanthropy.org.za or contact Inyathelo - The South African Institute for Advancement on 021 465 6981.

For more info on Gentle Care, contact Ivonne Gentle at 053 672 0502.