The Nex – Indawo Yethu
A place, where people come together – a holistic and safe space in Delft South Africa
Due to the airport expansion in Cape Town, the semi-permanent settlement Blikkiesdorp next to Delft and with it, the HOPE Cape Town Container Village will have to disappear in the near future. The people of Blikkiesdorp will be resettled, together with other semi-permanent locations like Malawi Camp and Freedom Farm.
HOPE Cape Town, in anticipation of the move, and to guarantee a smooth transition of all services in the area made the decision to congregate all services in this area in a newly established and imbued space to strengthen interconnectedness and intercommunication with surrounding communities, called “The NEX – Indawo Yethu”.
It was a major decision for the organisation, deciding at the same time to keep all services at Tygerberg Children’s Hospital and in all the townships, where a HOPE Community Health Worker is placed. In addition, the programmes HOPE2HOME and HOPE4Babies will continue.
After careful assessing the needs of the greater Delft community, the decision was taken to add the following services to the existing one: dual vocational training and entrepreneurial skills development.
An MOU with the Southern African – German Chamber of Commerce and Industry was signed in November 2019 in Johannesburg in this regard.
The finances for Phase 1 of the construction of the campus were secured and on the 16.10.2020 building began on site. In August 2021, HOPE Cape Town relocated its headquarters to the new campus in Delft.
The Free State of Bavaria financed the so-called Bavarian House and the Resource Centre, which will facilitate programs related to vocational dual training. On 4 December 2021, the Bavarian House was officially opened by Alan Winde, Premier of the Western Cape. Matthias Boddenberg, CEO of the Southern African German Chamber of Commerce, and official Representative of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Economic Development and Energy in South Africa jointly officiated with the Premier at the opening.
A European Trust secured the funding to build the holistic health centre - La Maison de Christoph- which officially opened on 30th September 2021. The focus of the centre will be on providing services for the elderly, men, women, and children and will especially focus on prevention, lifestyle, and mental health, whilst continuing on the firm foundation of work already done with HIV-infected and -affected families in the form of screening, adolescent clubs, and other support groups.
The project is further in collaboration with the Western Cape Provincial Administration and Government, the City of Cape Town, the Hanns-Seidel Foundation, VPUU and various NGO’s and tertiary teaching institutions.
The Second phase of The NEX-Indawo Yethu campus – the Early Development Childhood Centre- is scheduled for opening in the next few months while preparations for Phase 3 (Youth Centre) will start soon.
For interested sponsors there are still many opportunities to support the project – this section of the webpage gives a brief overview of the project and the major steps taken. It also informs about progress achieved and funding opportunities open to interested parties.
More information can be found in the following PDF documents:
01 The concept of “The Nex” in brief