## **Report of the Trustees for Spirit of Africa charity ( 1141351 ) for the year ending August 13[th] 2022** ## **The Charity’s work** The charity operates in the Valley of a Thousand Hills in Kwa ZuluNatal, South Africa. Our current project is called Ithembalihle, which means place of hope. We have dormitory buildings and a Pre-school at our project. We provide education for 40 pre-school children who are taught in two-year groups by our two teachers. We have 14-19 children at any one time staying on the project. Two Housemothers, a cook and Thandiwe Sibya who operate the project, under a South African registered NGO, care for the children. Some of our children stay with us permanently and are orphaned. Other children do visit, on occasions, a family member during the school holidays. We send our children to two different schools. Those who have been with us for a long time attend First Step Right School, we have an old vehicle that we bought in 2012 to transport the children back and forward to school. All of our children either attend the pre-school at Ithembalihle or attend other local schools. The charity pays for all uniforms and school fees. The charity pays for all the staff that work on site at Ithembahlile. The housemothers live with the children and are also provided with all meals. Everything at the project: education, food, children’s clothing, general maintenance, gas, electricity etc. is paid for by the charity. We believe all children have the right to have a home, a safe place to live, and good health care, access to education and to be loved. The charity enables all of the mentioned to be provided. ## **Where our money comes from** We have received donations from a local Church and a donation from a local charity called Hope for South Africa Children. We have regular individual sponsors who donate monthly via Direct Debits. The rest of our income comes through fund raising events the Trustees and charity Volunteers organize. Donations generated from speaking engagements, and the sale of African goods at various craft markets. ## **How we have spent our money** A monthly payment is made to the project to cover all of the regular expenses that are incurred at Ithembalihle. The monthly payment varies between £1,000 and £1,300, depending on the rate of exchange and any extra expenditure incurred in that month. We send monthly contributions to Ithembalihle, via Thandiwe who is the Registered representative of the NGO in S. Africa. Thandiwe then pays two Teachers, one Housemother and a cook. The rest of the monthly donation is used for gas, electricity, food, petrol, medical expenses and cleaning materials. In April our Pre-school gained Government status, the South African Government now totally funds the Pre-school. We are no longer financially responsible for the Pre-school which has reduced our monthly costs. In January we purchased a carpet for the pre-school. School fees, uniforms, graduation, Christmas party, gifts, vehicle insurance and tax are paid in separate payments. At the end of this financial year we only have £5500 remaining to pay on the vehicle loan. The vehicle has done a lot of miles and is suffering, due to desperate road conditions. We have had a lot of repair bills recently. We worked together, to organize flood defenses to protect the Crèche and other buildings, being flooded at Ithembalihle. Local builders were employed to build a flood wall behind the property. The wall has since prevented flooding. Due to Covid February 2022 was the first time we had visited the project in two years. Although regular contact was made with Thandiwe the development of the children could not be fully monitored. In February we were pleased to see how well the children looked. Two children had temporarily returned to live with their mother. The Pre-school was functioning well. There is now a volunteer and two teachers in the Pre-school for 40 children. The new kitchen was fully equipped and serving the Pre-school and Foster home. The dormitory, although in good decorative condition, was no longer functional. Our aim for several years had been to extend the dormitory to suit the needs of our older children. In July we employed local builders to extend the dormitory to two stories, the build will be complete by October. We have annual charity insurance and licenses to pay. A Trustee visit to the project is financed by the charity twice in the financial year. ## **Aims** 1) A Trustee will meet with volunteers in S. Africa in October to decorate the new dormitory extension. 2) To continue to provide the funds necessary to meet all of the needs of our children 3) Revamp the play area at the front of the dormitory building by creating a garden. 4) To begin the process, of Government recognition and adoption of the foster side of Ithembalihle project ## **Statement of Income & Expenditure to 14th August 2022** ||**£**|**£**|**£**| |---|---|---|---| |**Donations**|||| |**Donations Gift Aided**|||**17023.00**| |**Donations Non Gift Aided**|||**4040.10**| |**HMRC Gift Aid Repayment**|||**1897.48**| |**Amazon Smile**|||**42.42**| |**Fund Raising**|||| |**Garden Party**|||**2032.18**| |**Sponsored Runs**|||**4473.50**| |**Bonus Ball**|||**1715.37**| |**May Event**|||**1563.43**| |**Raffle**|||**935.00**| |**Cake Sale**|||**579.00**| |**Carol Singing**|||**252.44**| |**Sale of African Goods**|||| |**Sales**||**1197.68**|| |**Opening Stock**|**300.00**||| |**Add Purchases**|**314.00**||| |**Less Closing Stock**|**416.00**||| |**Cost of goods sold**||**198.00**|| |**Profit on sale of African Goods**|||**999.68**| |**Gross Interest Savings Account**|||**2.14**| |**Total Income**|||**35555.74**| |**Expenditure**|||| |**iThembalhle Core Costs**||**8698.37**|| |**Education**||**4461.23**|| |**Pre School**||**1681.83**|| |**Creche**||**2511.56**|| |**Car Insurance & Licence**||**1291.28**|| |**Car Repairs & Service**||**3256.89**|| |**Petrol**||**1147.04**|| |**Travel & Accomodation**||**2185.68**|| |**Building Repairs & Improvements**||**23374.72**|| |**Charity Insurance**||**288.97**|| |**Web Site**||**62.24**|| **Depreciation of car 2619.70** **51579.51 Net Income (Loss) -16023.77** CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examlnerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Exarniner's Report R•port to the tr￿te On xcounts forlh• y•ar •nded zoiz ChArlty no Ilf 4nyl I repxito the trust￿ ￿ my examina￿On oftm accounts ofthe atove tharity fthe Tru8VI year erthd 2011 fth8 kn). I report in resFed d my examination of the TNSVS account8 carried out r se(aK)n 145 of the 2011 Act 8nd in carrying out my exarnination. I have fdlowed the 8Oicabl8 th"ractions giv￿ by Ihe Gh8nty Comrni88ion rsection 14515llbl clthe A Inthp•nd•nt I ha¥e completed my 0¥gminatsrffi. I confirn that no rnatwial rnatters hava examlnè¢8 •tst•rnnt cc¢n8 to my attention Idherthan that disckwd bebw J in connection wrth ex?minatwt g￿e$ me caute to b•liev• that Ai, any material the Ad or I have no corwn8 and have ¢y)me aw155 no otsr m•ttew5 in ry)nrwti with th8 examinab.on 4ttenbon SIX￿1￿ be in oT