Mama Nomaqumru Lumka of Ikhayalethemba Village and Nceduluntu Educare Centre in Somerset West is well known as Mama Lumka and is our latest Mama to join the sisterhood. Mama Lumka is an exceptional woman who, despite her lowly beginnings and lack of education, has achieved in 10 years what most people of privileged backgrounds are unable to do in a lifetime. Her job entails caring and nurturing small children from the community who have become orphaned through HIV/Aids, abandoned because of physical or mental disability or have been rescued from an abusive home.

She began her project in December 1995 in her small 2 roomed house in Nomzamo by advertising child daycare facilities. The advert was a simple handwritten cardboard sign which she hung on the fence outside her home. Today the Nceduluntu Educare Centre cares for 65 children. By 2001 Mama Lumka was becoming increasingly aware of the need for an additional facility where small children could be cared for on a full-time basis. With the support from local businesses and individuals, the Ikhayalethemba Village was built and cares for 20 children aged between infancy and 10 year olds on a full time basis.