Amid great excitement, a film crew from the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) spent two days in July 2007 filming at Thembalethu HBC, the implementing partner for the Nkomazi Community Trust.

This extraordinary trip resulted from an SABC interview held with Nkomazi Trustees at the launch of the Gingerbread Foundation in June. Touched by the story of one community determined to rise above its circumstances, and through the generous sponsorship of the Mugg & Bean organization, a SABC team from the programme “Motswako” made the 5 hour road trip to the Nkomazi region in Mpumalanga.

Arriving in time to witness the 8th Annual “Operations Adventure Week” (see feature article), the film crew was able to record the various indoor and sporting activities being enjoyed by the more than 130 children participating.

The documentary programme also covered some of the many income generation and job creation projects being undertaken at Thembalethu, and interviews were conducted with people involved in sewing, fabric printing, jewelry manufacture and bead-making initiatives, as well as the mushroom farming and the community garden-feeding scheme.

Of particular interest to SABC was the ‘Nkomazi Voice’ project, a 12 page weekly newspaper produced by the Thembalethu youth and read by thousands in the community.

The film crew also spent time in the community visiting “gogos”, surrogate grandmothers who take in children, and families with first-hand experience of the AIDS pandemic.

In the village of Driekoppies, they were treated to a special show by the children of the “Kidz Club”, a special day-care centre set up by Thembalethu to provide a safe haven for vulnerable children.

An emotional highlight of the visit was time spent at one of the child-headed households in the community, prompting the SABC crew to personally contribute gifts of clothing and food to this needy family.