Our Founder, Dian Alyan travelled to South Africa earlier this month to explore an opportunity for us to expand to the region.
A few months ago we held a private event in southern California, which was attended by a few women who are originally from South Africa. 
Dian shared her dream to build a home in South Africa and they took it to heart. They started texting their friends and family there about the idea and before long, there were about 10-15 women in Johannesburg and Durban who were interested in becoming a part of this project. In fact, one family became so interested they wanted to donate land right away!
It was so wonderful to see the phenomenal reception of our ideas and dreams. Dian was invited to speak at various events in Pretoria, Durban and Johannesburg and gave four radio interviews. The audience was eager to be a part of Givelight’s work as shown by the high number of people who signed up to be future volunteers.
It is a sad to learn that there are more than 4 million orphans in South Africa as a result of HIV/AIDS and immigration from poor neighboring countries. We are excited about the possibility to work in South Africa and are now reviewing options to determine how to make the most impact long term. We have been offered donated land in two cities by two very generous families. We have also been invited to visit and assess the condition of orphans in Cape Town.
We thank our generous friends and hosts from Akma Products Inc, Pietermaritzburg Muslim Woman’s Organization, Caring Sisters Network, Caring Women Forum and 1000+ audience who were moved by our story and vision. We look forward to defining our work and sharing our light in South Africa. Pictures from our visit can be found here .
We will conduct data analyses and assess project viability in each city and then determine where to invest. We hope to be sharing our progress in the the coming months.
