Etafeni 2022 Annual Report

The 2021/2022 financial year was a significant time for Etafeni. Having survived the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic which continued into 2021, it was fortunate that we were still able to carry out our mandate in Nyanga. With my having joined Etafeni just four months into the financial year under review, as lockdown restrictions eased, at Etafeni we had to familiarize ourselves with the reality of a new world of life during and after the pandemic.

Our focus in the past year has mainly been to help etafeni adapt to a changing world. Of utmost importance has been the ability to come up with strategies to ensure that we continue to exist for another 20 years. The choices we make today will determine our tomorrow. One of the things the etafeni team agreed upon was that, aftercovid-19, it could never be business as usual. Together with the board of trustees, we took a conscious decision to put a halt to the usual 5-year strategy, and instead we opted for a more aggressive 2-year turnaround sustainability strategy. The pandemic, more especially lockdown, resulted in major economic disruptions which had drastic implications for non-profit funding as funders and donors either reduced or could not continue their funding. As the economy suffered, npo’s struggled to stay afloat, resulting in closure for some. Thanks to our generous funders and donors, we ourselves managed to stay afloat. Nevertheless we were faced with a community that, just like the rest of the country, was struggling with the onslaught of a dwindling economy, coupled with job losses and a loss of income. Etafeni is the heart of the nyanga community, and for more than 20 years we have provided a place of safety for its children to be able to grow, learn, experience opportunities and prosper. Our continued existence is not only about ensuring that our employees stay in paid employment but, most importantly, it is about making a positive difference to the children, the families and the wider community a community that was once termed the murder capital of south africa.

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