In recognition of its role in the community, and to promote job creation and skills training, the Northam Community Life Centre was established in October 2004, and has in a short space of time become a hub of activity and industry on the mine property.
This self-help centre, previously known as the Bliksaal project, offers a number of activities including a soup kitchen, vegetable garden, sewing and handcrafts, control of alien plants, and recycling initiatives. Ingrid Knoetze, a volunteer in the community who has passionately driven the establishment of the centre, explains that a primary focus of the project is its ability to sustain itself. "At the same time, it is very humbling to see how an initiative which really has few bells and whistles, can make such an immediate difference to people's lives, and their self-esteem."
The centre currently employs 18 people, 14 of whom are volunteers. Also provided by the centre is an HIV/AIDS counselling service and a platform to exchange information, so that both infected and affected people have access to a support base. Counselling is provided by the mine's peer educators who are in the process of organizing a choir group to spread their message through song and dance. In the pipeline are campaigns, rallies and competitions aimed for the surrounding farming communities, informal settlements as well as mine employees.
Vegetable and herb farming form an important nucleus for the Life Centre teaching people skills to cultivate their own produce, while the pickings are used in the soup kitchen as a means to provide nutrition for those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS, an important component of any treatment regimen.
The remaining vegetables are distributed through the farming network to the neighbouring community and farmworkers, with a particular focus on providing fresh food to the children. The Jabulani informal settlement, in close proximity to the centre will in the near future get the soup from the centre directly depending on the quantity of vegetables available. One of the challenges faced by the project is the great need in the area, and the difficulty in keeping up with growing demand.
The sewing and handcrafts project provides skills training for women from the local community. The intention is that these women will, in turn, transfer their knowledge to other women in the community, with the objective of empowering these people, who frequently have few or no life choices at all. Ultimately these women should be in a position to start their own small businesses.
Recycling activities are encouraged at the centre, with people from the local community being taught to make timber trellising and gates from scrap wood from the mine. With the growing building of capacity and sustainability, projects like the Northam Community Life Centre may well point the way towards more co-operative, constructive and mutually beneficial relationships with neighbouring communities.