Ithemba Ngemfundo Inc. is a U.S. based organization with 501(c)(3) non-profit status. Ithemba Ngemfundo began in 2021 after seeing the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the poorest townships in South Africa, especially on the children.

I moved to South Africa in 2016 with my husband and our then 4 month old child from the United States. My career prior to moving was as an OB/Gyn, doing my residency at Stanford University and then working in a private practice affiliated with Yale University. My husband, also a physician, specializes in Infectious Diseases which was the reason for our international move. He does research on Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis(MDR-TB), and was starting a study in Pietermaritzburg.

I had the great fortune of meeting Ina Smith, a German expat, in 2017. She is a missionary sponsored by her church in Germany, but her main focus of work in South Africa is to help the creches(daycares/preschools) in and around Pietermartizburg to obtain the necessary resources to best serve the children. She runs a non-profit called Nkosinathi CAP, which helps many creches in terms of obtaining food, toys, building maintenance, and education.

Ina had met Rose Mngadi through her work, after helping at her creche called Thamboville ECD Centre. Ina saw how Rose struggled with having enough space to take care of all of the children, especially after Rose took on the burden of more children after another local creche was shut down due to abuse. The Ward Councillor where Rose lives saw the great work she was doing, but also the space constraints, so he gifted her a plot of land to build a new creche for the community. Rose was able to raise funds to build a small building with 2 rooms, but unfortunately the construction left a lot to be desired.

This is when I met Rose in 2021, and I started a U.S. based non-profit organization to help Rose raise funds to build her school. We have been very lucky to receive numerous private donations and significant funding from the Patrick and Anna M Cudahy Fund. We are looking for continued donations to complete the building of the preschool. We will continue to raise funds to help support the new creche, but we also would like to raise money to help Rose get a degree above her Matric(High School) Certificate in Education.