Nimbus supports Stuttgart University aid project in South Africa

A new "beginning" has been made! This February, 25 architecture students from Stuttgart University travelled as volunteers to South Africa to build a house in Grabouw near Cape Town for a non-governmental organisation by the name of Thembalitsha. The name of the project is "Ukuqala" and Ukuqala means beginning in Xhosa (one of South Africa's eleven official languages).

Thembalitsha helps children who have been directly or indirectly affected by HIV. According to the World Health Organisation, there are around two million AIDS orphans living in South Africa. This number has increased by 30 per cent since 2001. Aids orphans and HIV-infected children are accommodated in the organisation's "Village of Hope". There they receive what they need most in their situation: hope. Hope of an untroubled childhood and a longer life. But the accommodation in the "Village of Hope" is severely overcrowded. The students from Stuttgart University enlarged the facility. Using traditional and recycled materials, the future architects built a residential building back in 2011. The second project followed in spring 2012 and the Nimbus Group supported the effort with energy-saving Modul Q 36 LED luminaires.
The new house is intended for foreign voluntary aid workers who go to support the organisation in the field. Besides helping children, Thembalitsha also runs a training program for youths and adults. The "Ukuqala" project will be part of this program and enable participants to gather experience on a building site, which may benefit them in their job training or when building their own house.
The houses were built of sustainable, inexpensive and, whenever possible, traditional materials such as the typical rammed earth for the walls.

The Nimbus Group would like to congratulate the future architects on their achievement and is proud to have had the opportunity to support such an ambitious project! And in keeping with the spirit of the project, we would like to express our agreement with the Ukuqala slogan: "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." Henry Ford

More informations: http://www.ukuqala.net/