South Africa 2015

Habitat for Humanity South Africa

Habitat for Humanity South Africa (HFHSA) has been actively building in South Africa since 1996 and families have been served across 34 communities. As a community development organisation HFHSA engages with local communities in the greater Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg areas.

HFHSA was founded in 1987. Three years after its founding, violence and unrest in the project areas brought work to a halt. It was only in 1996 that HFHSA began building in earnest again. As a recognised Section 21 Non-Profit Organisation, HFHSA is ideally situated to address the severe housing needs of the country. Initially HFHSA worked with partner communities in impoverished areas. This affiliate model has been subsequently replaced with a project model in which each project is uniquely tailored to suit the needs of the homeowner group, the environmental and social conditions of the communities and the available funds.

A unique feature of HFHSA as an organisation is that it partners with community groups or other organisations to help address an identified housing need. Once this partnership has been formalised a lengthy process of education and training begins. This is crucial to the development of the homeowner group and is an important focus area of HFHSA’s ministry.

About South Africa

South Africa is one of the most diverse and enchanting countries in the world. Exotic combinations of landscapes, people, history and culture offer a unique and inspiring experience. South Africa is located on the southern tip of the African continent, bordered by northern neighbours Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It encompasses the independent mountain kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland and is flanked by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and the warm Indian Ocean on the east - giving the country its spectacular range of biodiversity.

South Africa occupies 4% of the continent's total landmass, covering an area of 1 221 040 square kilometres. The country is five times larger than Great Britain and three times the size of Texas. South Africa enjoys a temperate and pleasant climate, with lovely warm sunny days most of the year. South Africa enjoys one of the world's highest average daily hours of sunshine - 8.5 compared with 3.8 in London, 6.4 in Rome and 6.9 in New York. South Africa is home to some 47.7 million people - a colourful population as diverse in makeup as the country's geography is varied. Almost 77% are black (or African), 11% white and 9% "coloured", the local label for people of mixed African, Asian and white descent. Just over half the population lives in the cities. Three-quarters are Christian and most of the other major world religions are represented here.

There are 11 officially recognised languages, most of them indigenous to South Africa. English is one of these, and everywhere you go, you can expect to find people who speak and understand it. English is the language of the cities, of commerce and banking, of government and official documents. Road signs and official forms are in English.