THE REACH4LIFE PROGRAM
Reaching the youth of Africa to change their future
Thandeka Mavundla-Nzama
Please listen as Thandeka "Thandy" Mavundla-Nzama gives an overview of what the Reach4Life program is and how it works in South Africa. This vital program is changing the lives of young people in South Africa by changing their hearts.
The Reach4Life© Bible was developed by Biblica in response to the AIDS pandemic, and was launched in South Africa in 2004. It is now available to their ministry partners around the world. Prevention Time supports Phakama Africa Community Projects, a South African nonprofit headed by Thandeka Mavundla-Nzama, who developed a community program using this Reach4Life Bible as a basis to teach life lessons in schools, detention centers, drug rehabs, and community and church groups. In addition to education about HIV prevention, the program provides guidance on topics common to youth, such as drug abuse, sexual health and safety, teen pregnancy, and other topics. There were 257,039 youth participating in the program by the end of 2019, an increase from 205,754 participants at the end of 2018.
We fund transportation, meals, and training for the teachers, who we call Peer Educators. These are indigenous young adults from local churches who teach in urban townships and rural villages in South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, and most recently, Lesotho. Currently over 200 Peer Educators are involved in the program. We also fund Reach4Life books and other resources and supplies for the program, which is offered to all youth, regardless of race, religion, gender, or other factors. We also advocate for the physically and/or mentally challenged by teaching Reach4Life in schools for special needs learners.
Everyone is encouraged to know their (HIV) status, but whether it is positive or negative, Reach4Life empowers each participant to make wise life choices and become contributing members of their communities.
THANDEKA MAVUNDLA
Thandeka Mavundla is based in Johannesburg and directs Reach4Life in South Africa and now also in Swaziland and Mozambique. Her vision is for community members to be the ones to bring solutions to their own communities.
OUR PEER EDUCATORS
Reach4Life is based on peer education, which is a means of affecting behavior change among peers. It is a way of educating others by serving as role models to those who share similar social backgrounds or life experiences.
HELP US DEFEAT HIV/AIDS
Since the AIDS pandemic began, over 70 million people have been infected, and over 35 million have died. UNAIDs reports that if efforts to address AIDS are not fast-tracked, it may rebound and spread even faster.
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