About iKhaya

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Our Home of Hope

iKhaya le Themba – the Home of Hope – is a non-governmental organisation operating from a purpose-built campus in Imizamo Yethu, an informal settlement (or “township”) in Hout Bay, Cape Town.

Many young people from Imizamo Yethu live in challenging circumstances caused by poverty, disease, homelessness and financial insecurity. They are in great need of holistic support and care.

Our core work at iKhaya is to provide a safe and nurturing space where many of these orphaned and vulnerable children can grow and thrive. Our organisation achieves this by providing a structured, holistic after-school care programme and family support centre which is in the interest of the children.

Our History

Eliminating learning poverty, hunger and extreme poverty has been at the core of our mission since we began.

iKhaya le Themba was founded in 2004 in partnership with the Imizamo Yethu community and other local organisations. There was a pressing need for a safe and supportive space for IY’s children during after-school hours, where they could get help with their homework, and be loved, nurtured and cared for while their primary caregivers were at work.

iKhaya originally offered a hot meal and homework help in a safe place for 45 kids and very quickly grew into a purpose-built campus with a reinforced learning curriculum that worked alongside the government education system.

Over the past 19+ years, we have built a much broader iKhaya family of staff, volunteers, board members, sponsors and supporters both locally and across the world.

A young girl wearing a bright yellow soccer bib and smiling for the camera — “This is indeed a house of hope to kids growing up in the challenging environment of Imizamo Yethu. People involved in the work at Ikhaya Le Themba deserve much support because they are doing an excellent job”
**— Patrick Hajayandi, Community Member**

Our Selection Process

Every day, 150 children between the ages of six and 12 years attend our after-school programmes where they are nurtured, educationally supported and fed a hot meal by a dedicated staff of 11, 90% of whom are residents of Imizamo Yethu and many who have been on staff for over a decade.

We open up new Grade 1 registrations each year to our local community, Imizamo Yethu.

Hundreds apply, but we can only select a small number, assessing the level of need.

Once chosen, our iKhaya kids stay with us from Grade 1 up to Grade 7.

They are some of the most vulnerable children in the community, and their families are fully reliant on the care that iKhaya provides daily and all year round.

These kids are the reason we do everything we do.

They are our future leaders, plumbers, teachers, nurses, doctors, social workers or pilots… if we give them the backing they deserve.

Our iKhaya kids have hopes and dreams for the future, and it’s our mission that they leave our care with everything they need to make their plans come to fruition.