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Transforming Lives

ASPIRES program counsellor, Rebecca Ledwaba, explains the importance of Vhutshilo and Financial Literacy.

When Rebecca Ledwaba first started working as a counselor at the Khaya Center south of Johannesburg, she was embarrassed to talk with teenagers about sex, condoms, their personal choices and finances. She thought abstinence was the only solution, and couldn’t see how financial literacy could help.

Mahlaku Ratau and her mother Matloe Ratau, participants in the “Let’s Talk” program

Nestled in the south of Johannesburg is a sprawling informal settlement known as Freedom Park, established following South Africa’s democracy in the late 90s. It is here that you find poverty, high unemployment rates and families ravaged by HIV/AIDS and other opportunistic diseases.

Mandisa Ngonongono is the site coordinator of the Mannenberg Thuthuzela Care Center, which provides holistic care for survivors

The Thuthuzela Care Center at the GF Jooste Hospital in Mannenberg, just outside of Cape Town, was the first center of its kind established in South Africa. Opened in 2000, the center aims to provide holistic care to victims of sexual violence, most of whom are women and children.