Empowering the communities we serve from within

Ikamva Labantu is a women-led, community-based movement.

Who we are

We are an organisation radiating community empowerment and transformation. We are educators, trainers, rehabilitation professionals, expert programme designers, colleagues, and supporters of those who have the closest connection to the challenges they face.

Childcare specialists

Using ECD training rooted in experiential learning frameworks, we empower community change-makers with the skills to enhance the quality of their preschools and daycares in under-resourced areas. This ensures every child we reach starts life with equal opportunity.

Youth and family enrichment co-ordinators

We go to great lengths to truly understand the needs expressed by the participants we serve. By actively listening and responding, we create robust education programmes and after-school activities these families can rely on, nurturing children, young people, and their parents.

Our elderly care programme ensures dignity and quality of life through club-based and home care options, each tailored to address their specific needs in later life.

Our founding

In 1963, during the intensification of apartheid, a 21-year-old speech therapist ventured into Langa in search of a prematurely discharged patient who, only days before, had undergone serious oral surgery. The deprivation and poverty she encountered shocked her, lighting a flame in her heart that drove a sixty-year-long calling to bring about meaningful change for the people she saw that day.

Her name was Helen Lieberman. Over the decades, Helen’s connection to the upliftment of the marginalised, forgotten communities she encountered in 1963 blossomed into Ikamva Labantu, meaning “the future of our people”.

Since our official launch as a non-governmental, non-profit organisation in 1992, our work has expanded into many fields of social support, including early childhood development, disability care, AIDS orphan foster homes, shelters, schools, elderly care, micro-enterprises, food security and youth life skills development.

Helen Lieberman’s Awards

Founder and Honorary President

Helen Lieberman has been recognised globally for her dedication to humanitarian work. Some of her notable awards include the 2022 Kirsh Family Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2017 Officier de la Légion d’Honneur.

“People often ask me why I returned to the townships after my first visit in 1963. The answer is simple: I saw hope and wanted to be a part of that hope. I wanted to join a movement towards a better future for the country. I could not live with myself, knowing what I had just seen and knowing I could use my training and resources to assist.”

Ikamva Labantu trailblazers, founders and thought leaders

Our founding women have dedicated their lives to serving others, strengthening their communities, and supporting their families, neighbours, and children.

Elderly care

Tutu is the founder of the Older Persons programme at Ikamva Labantu. She brought seniors together to form clubs, motivating...

Phumla lives in Nyanga. Featured in the Brave Hearts documentary, she is the daughter of Mama Esilena Dukash, who, alongside...

Daycare

In the 1970s, groups of women came together to care for the children of working mothers. They called themselves Ithemba Labantwana (Hope for Our Children). This group provided peer support and eventually focused their energy on helping each other comply with government regulations to access government financial support. Ikamva Labantu grew out of this group of women. Ikamva Labantu has built over 100 preschools in the past 60 years.

Mildred lived in Gugulethu. She had a daycare centre and fostered orphaned children in her home. Mildred was the first...

Gertie lived in Langa and was the first chairwoman of the Langa chapter of the women’s group Ithemba Labantwana. Sadly,...

Vuyelwa lived in Gugulethu. The community gifted her a piece of land, which she gave to Ikamva Labantu to build...

Lulama lived in Khayelitsha, where she ran a daycare from a shack. Later, Ikamva Labantu built a building for her...

Meisie lived in Gugulethu. She was one of the founders of the women’s group Ithemba Labantwana and a very strong...

Martha decided to move her preschool from a regular school in a building in Gugulethu to the squatter camp of...

Geraldine created her daycare in Mitchells Plain and brought all the preschool principals in the coloured areas together into the...

Nomsa found unattended children in the streets on the outskirts of Gugulethu. She brought them into her home to feed...

Nontle worked with an Ikamva Labantu educational specialist to develop a school readiness programme called “Development through play” for all...

Xolisa lived in Khayelitsha, where she ran a preschool. When she could no longer run the daycare, her son took...

Francis joined the women’s daycare group Ithemba Labantwana from Ocean View, a distant location. This greatly assisted young children in...

Foster care

Connie lived in a shack between Phillipi East and Khayelitsha. She started foster care in her shack for abandoned children....

Dado lived in Langa and took in abandoned and orphaned children. She also ran a preschool. Sadly, she has passed...

Noma lives between Mitchells Plain and Thembani. She takes care of orphaned children and was featured in the Brave Hearts...

Thobeka took care of abandoned babies in a shack in Gugulethu until Ikamva Labantu built her a house where she...

Rosalie is from Crossroads. She took in many orphaned children, caring for them until adulthood.

...

Primary school

Florence created a primary school in the squatter area of Miller’s Camp. Ikamva Labantu assisted in building the school. This...

Multiple social welfare programmes

Nobuntu lives in Langa. She runs a shelter for indigent and disabled people. On the same property, Ikamva Labantu built...

Children and youth

Victor helped create the Ulwazi Youth Centre in Langa to assist youth with sports and life skills and to help...

Skills development

Ivy lived in Gugulethu. She started a sewing school in 1983. A container and sewing machines were provided by Ikamva...

Gail first worked in Gugulethu with Vukuhambe – the training and employment programme of the physically disabled. Later she created...

Nursing

Linda lived in Langa. She was a qualified nursing sister at the Red Cross Hospital. She would rescue people who...

Maggie lived in Phillippi. She was a qualified nursing sister and nursed AIDS patients in Phillippi and Crossroads for Ikamva...

Employment and training for the disabled

Ruth lived in Gugulethu and was disabled. She was the founder of Vukuhambe, ‘We will get up and go’, a...

Maxwell and Lungile lived in Gugulethu and were disabled. They worked with Ruth Sokeyeka at Vukuhambe, making curtains, pillows, and...

Employment and training for the visually impaired

Avril developed Ikamva Labantu’s programme for the visually impaired. This programme trained visually impaired individuals to become receptionists and switchboard...

Management, Ikamva Labantu

Sipho spent much time in detention and became a lawyer once released. Sipho has worked with Ikamva Labantu for many...

Brave Hearts

To discover Helen’s inspiring journey and her extraordinary partnerships with some of South Africa’s bravest women, a feature-length documentary, Brave Hearts, is available for screening upon request.

Helen Lieberman’s Awards