Ithemba Lempumelelo Ceramics Centre

"Hope for Success"

A community development project

Who We Are

Ithemba Lempumelelo (“Hope for Success”) Ceramics Centre empowers South African youth with visual arts skills. We focus on youth with physical disabilities living in local townships, not only enabling students to earn a living using ceramics skills, but also building community between those enduring similar struggles. We need your help to purchase supplies to help this project grow.

The Western Cape is a diverse province within South Africa, and youth face major challenges such as substance abuse, discrimination, unemployment, and delinquency. ILCC meets these challenges by spreading awareness and bringing hope to those who are often overlooked because of their abilities.

Your money will help us to get this organization off the ground by providing us with art supplies. While we have plenty of willing artists and a market to sell our goods, we need the clay, molds, paints and tools to get started. We would love this organization to be more than just a place to learn, but a place to build a stable career and feel at home.

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Current Projects

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Pottery and Ceramics

Teaching young adults artistic skills both gives them lasting abilities and a way to support themselves. Contact us to purchase (or custom order) any of our hand made products or donate to provide learners with art supplies.

Transportation

We provide mobility to youth that would otherwise not be able to leave the house for weeks on end. One of our goals is to acquire a company vehicle so that we can expand our reach. We currently use public transportation to transport participants, which is frequently not wheelchair friendly.

The Problem

The current reality of a young adult with disabilities is devastating. After children turn 18, the education system abandons these differently-abled youth. Without receiving certificates of completion for mainstream schooling, most students are forced to abandon all future goals and participation in society. Due to the poverty within townships, families are incentivized to keep their children at home. The government has made it more cost effective for these young adults to waste away, alone, all day every day, while apathetic family members collect disability checks. Without a way to provide for themselves or their families, young adults with disabilities must surrender to a life of boredom or become involved in illegal activity. Young adults with disabilities in townships are some of the largest victims of depression and drug dealers who take advantage of their vulnerable circumstances.

The Solution

This is where Ithemba Lempumelelo Ceramics Center intervenes. Rather than allowing this lack of hope and purpose to overwhelm these young adults, ILCC gives people living with physical disabilities an opportunity to build practical skills in a supportive community environment. In addition to pottery and ceramics classes, ILCC also provides participants with programming and discussions where guest speakers create dialogue with the youth about the struggles they are facing. Establishing a source of income, consistent interaction with others, and meaningful mental and physical stimulation, ILCC allows people with disabilities to contribute something tangible to their families and society.

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Awareness Programs

We bring local speakers to our meetings to discuss issues affecting the youth including peer pressure, substance abuse, sex and sexuality, HIV, cultural diversity, and other topics.

The Future

We are expanding our program to include life skills for those who cannot use their hands to create art. We will be establishing a speaking or theater program soon, check in to see our progress!

The Future

Although we currently have to use any funds generated from sales to cover the cost of replenishing our supplies, when we can buy materials in bulk and sell larger quantities of products, our business model will be fully sustainable. The profits from selling our pottery will then be able to fund our larger goals:

Transportation- some of these funds will be used to purchase a van that can bring our participants to meetings. As of right now, we are using public transportation which is both unreliable in the townships, and often times not wheelchair-friendly. A van will allow us to bring all of our members together so that everyone will be able to learn, create, and build community.

Staff members- while our current teacher has experience with ceramics, we would love to expand the skills taught by our organization. In order to include those who do not have functionality in their hands, we would love to bring on staff members who have training in theater, dance, music, and more.

Store- rather than constantly moving spaces and products, our dream would be to open up a store of our own where we can sell our products and employ our participants as clerks.

Motivational speaking- the youth that we work with have the most incredible stories. Overcoming all obstacles in their way, they have maintained hope and continued to fight for purpose. These young adults want to share their stories, and we would love to give them a platform to inspire others enduring seemingly endless struggle.