Nick Phillips
Past District Governor, Rotary International District 9270
Past President, Rotary Club of Eshowe, South Africa
Email . Soul of Africa web site

“We estimate that the total number of children ultimately needing assistance in our KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape Rotary District will approach 800,000.”
— Nick Phillips

“If it is meant to be, it is up to me.”
— Past District Governor 9270, Vic Bredenkamp

Terrible circumstances can often spur the creation of innovative means to improve the terrible. When Rotary gets involved, a powerful support system gears up to take good ideas and help realize their full potential. Certainly that is what Nick Phillips. Past District Governor of Rotary District 9270, a member of the Rotary Club of Eshowe, South Africa, and activist partner in the wonderfully named Soul of Africa Project (SOA) has done.

Soul of Africa-Beginnings to Present

The Soul of Africa project was founded in December 2003 to empower women in rural areas by teaching them to make shoes. The origins of this program came with the establishment of the Shoes South Africa Charitable Trust. Graeme Jenkins of the UK Footwear and Leather Export Council, and Sara and Mike Gedye of Michelle Footwear, founded the trust to assist orphans affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The idea was to raise funds from within the footwear industry of SA and its international export customers.

The first organization to receive funds was the Khulani Children's Home, a Durban based home for orphans affected by HIV/AIDS. Khulani was little more than a run down house when Sarah got involved, but now it is a real home for twenty children, ages 9 to l7. Many of the children there have not only been orphaned and then abandoned by their relatives, but in their young lives they have had to endure neglect, abuse or rape.

The next innovation came when Lance Clark of British footwear giant, Clarks Shoes donated money to Sarah Gedye for the Khulani Children's Home, but wanted to initiate a self-sustainable project to keep funds flowing to orphaned children. His idea was to establish an initiative to facilitate employment and provide a stream of funding aimed at assisting children affected by HIVAIDS. The Soul of Africa was born.

Soul of Africa Creates Employment

Soul of Africa teaches unemployed women from informal settlements in KwaZulu-Natal, the skills needed to cut and hand-stitch a moccasin shoe. The shoe is named the 'Khulani' after the Khulani Children's Home. The women receive a steady income, and all net profits generated by their work are used to establish facilities for orphans affected by HIV/AIDS and to support other self-help projects through the Shoes of South Africa Charitable Trust. Footwear manufacturers, component and leather suppliers, selling agents and certain retail outlets have joined forces to facilitate the success of the initiative. The manufacturing and sales programs of Michelle Footwear, Shoes South Africa UK and Shoes South Africa USA obtain orders and provide the infrastructure and machinery to manufacture the shoes. At present about three hundred pairs of shoes are finished each day.

Soul of Africa/Rotary International District 9270 Partnership

A whole new era for Soul of Africa began when Nick Phillips and his Rotary District 9270 joined forces. Nick was born in Surrey, England, but emigrated to South Africa at the age of nine with his parents and two brothers. A practicing CPA, Nick acquired a small accounting practice in l977 and joined Rotary a year later. He has served in every club capacity since then including double duty as president.

Nick heard about SOA through his daughter Lindsay, a second year fine arts student in Durban who was invited to paint murals at the Michelle Shoes factory owned by the Gedyes. As he tells the story, “Lindsay saw some shipping containers used to house the SOA factory at the back of the main factory and called me. She knew it was something that would interest me. So I went to look and the rest is history.”

Through Nick's efforts a new partnership has developed which guarantees that Soul of Africa funding can be swiftly and accurately applied wherever it is needed in South Africa. “If I had to describe what District 9270 brings to Soul of Africa, I would say that we provide service delivery of Orphan Shelters and other services throughout KwaZulu-Natal and the Transkiei.” According to the World Health Organization, KwaZulu-Natal and Southern Africa are the most heavily infected HIV/AIDS area in the world. Nick also serves as District 9270's representative on the Board of Trustees of Soul of Africa.

“Our Rotary District was identified by SOA as being the correct vehicle for service delivery of shelters, drop-off centres, and other services vital to SOA. Soul of Africa has now become a District Project to which Rotary Clubs in District 9270 can apply for assistance. We have a District SOA committee headed by past President Pat Draper that forms liaisons with and helps clubs to make applications for assistance. A website is being developed that will enable potential partners to obtain all the information they might need to make informed decisions.”

Caring for the Children

Nick says, “We never refer to orphans because it is misleading. We prefer to talk about children affected by HIV/AIDS as we assist all children whether orphaned or not, infected or not.” Together, Rotary and Soul of Africa plan to build more houses for the children in their own communities. Foster parents will act as their guardians and care for the children until they are old enough to work. According to Nick, “The idea is to create a stable family environment for the children who have lost so much early in their lives. We plan to build schools as well to enable the children to receive a good education and build their future. Nearly every one of the forty-eight clubs in our district is involved in this work in one form or another and has been for some time. Our newest initiative is to build centrally situated drop-off community centers where breadwinners can leave children during the day to receive food, education, medication and counseling as required.”

As Nick points out, “the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International does not finance bricks and mortar. We have put together a package where Soul of Africa assists with building costs and our Rotary friends worldwide can join us in obtaining Matching Grants from the Rotary Foundation, or simply make donations. The funds will be used for food security, education, social services, counseling, furniture, equipment and other necessary items.”

Africa's Future

“Living in Africa, one grows up knowing there are many needs. People in first world countries can be forgiven for not being as attuned to community needs as we are. One of the greatest achievements of Rotary on the African continent will be to have the First World not just take an interest in social needs on this continent, but also to roll their sleeves up and support our initiatives in any way they can.” Nick Phillips believes the work of Rotarians with Soul of Africa, both in Africa and through Rotary Clubs worldwide, can begin that process.