Khula Ministries & Outreach
In the rural community of Mahlabathini, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Khula Community Centre has been a beacon of hope since 2001. A registered NPO and PBO, Khula operates across five divisions: education, feeding, health, music, and discipleship. What started as a tiny Creche with just 14 children and 2 staff members in a room next to the Church has blossomed into a thriving community hub. Through the generosity of local and international supporters, we now have a dedicated Community Centre and Educational Building, serving 120 Creche children, 300 primary school learners, and 18 committed staff members.
Our Mission
When Pastor Joseph founded Khula in 2001, he recognized a deep need to feed, educate, and share the Gospel with children in the community. He started a small Creche to address these needs, and over 20 years later, Khula Community Centre remains committed to this calling. Our mission is to transform the lives of youth in our community through ministries that focus on nourishment, education, and spiritual growth. Every child who walks through our doors is supported, guided, and empowered to reach their full potential.
Our Vision
We envision a community where every child has access to quality education, spiritual guidance, and opportunities to succeed. We believe education is the most powerful tool for change, and we are committed to helping learners achieve academic excellence so they can open doors to a brighter future. Through our work, we aim to ensure that children in Mahlabathini have equal opportunities to thrive and excel in life.
It is in this context that Khula Community Centre has been serving the Mahlabathini rural community in Ward 34, UGU District, Port Shepstone, KwaZulu Natal, for over 20 years. We are privileged to impact children aged 2 to 18, providing a safe, supportive environment in partnership with local schools, the Department of Education, South Coast Hospice, and Government Mobile Clinics.
Since our founding, Khula has played a transformative role through after-school feeding schemes, educational programmes, special needs support, music classes, and health clinics. These initiatives ensure children are well-nourished, educated, and healthy while supporting their families and the wider community. By combining education, nutrition, and holistic care, we help children thrive academically and personally.
Over the past 20+ years, thousands of children and families have benefited from our programmes. Guided by our values of compassion, community, and excellence, we not only meet immediate needs but also empower children for long-term success. Looking ahead, Khula aims to remain a beacon of hope for families in Mahlabathini.
We give God all honor, glory and praise for what He has done and we’re excited to see His plans for the future unfold.
Khula Creche
A fully operational ECD creche for 120 children aged 2–5, preparing them for school. The creche operates Monday to Friday, from 08:00 to 13:00. We have four teachers, and one creche facilitator, with the capacity to educate 120 children.
We accommodate children (2 to 4 years old) from our surrounding rural community.
Our Creche program aims to equip each child with the skills, knowledge and confidence necessary to excel at school. We believe that learning should be fun and our approach includes play and creativity. Although it is always bitter-sweet to see these children graduate and leave our care when they graduate to enroll in the local primary school, we are excited to welcome most of them back into our After School Educational Program.
Khula Teach
An after-school educational programme for Grades R–7, offering English (reading, writing, listening, and speaking), Mathematics, and Computer classes. Our teachers also support Foundation Phase classes at the local primary school, assisting with English and Life Skills lessons.
Khula After School Educational Program:
Every afternoon, after the school day, a bus drops children from the local Primary School off at our Khula gates. The children receive food, and then make their way into the Khula Teach classes for an afternoon of learning.
We offer lessons in English (reading and writing), English (speaking and listening), Maths and Computer Skills to Grade R – Grade 7 learners (5 to 14 years old).
Khula is the only facility within the entire community where children have access to computers and class libraries. We provide two nutritious meals daily, five days a week, to our 120 Creche children. Additionally, 150 local primary school children receive a warm, cooked meal before attending our after-school educational programme.
Sineke Primary School:
Twice a week, our Khula Teach team travels up to the local Primary School to assist the Foundation Phase teachers with English and Life Skills lessons. Our teachers prepare and plan these lessons, and bring their own resources to make the time as exciting as possible for the children.
This local Primary school is very rural, and under-resourced. The teacher has to manage more than 45 children in a class. Our Khula Team counts it a privilege to assist and lighten the load of our local teachers.
Khula Music
Music classes are offered four days a week for Grades 4–7, teaching dance, drums, marimba, and more. On Fridays, learners form a band, primarily comprising high school students, with some primary learners.
These classes are led by our very passionate music teacher. The children learn how to play the marimbas, guitar, drums, keyboard and shakers. We have Grade R to Grade 7 learners attending, with a few High School learners as well.
Most of our Highschool boys who originally made up our “famous” Marimba Band, matriculated from school in 2022. This meant that we had to form a new band in 2023. The current Marimba Band now consists of both Primary and High School learners, boys and girls.
We also started a new Khula Ladies Choir in 2023, which consists of some of our Khula staff and 7 volunteers from our community. The Ladies Choir and our Marimba Band had 3 major live performances last year and it brings us so much joy to see our band and choir grow in skill and confidence!
Building on this, in 2024, we started a Khula Youth Choir which consists of our own community children. Practices take place every Tuesday afternoon, before our Youth gathering.
Khula Health
The nearest hospital is 40km away, which is why Khula felt the need to start our own Health Post in our community. In partnership with the Government Mobile Clinic and South Coast Hospice Clinic, we provide healthcare twice a month at Khula. Services include HIV/AIDS testing and counselling, TB and cancer screening, health and hygiene education, and medication supply.
These clinics attend to the medical needs of both the children and adults within our community.
We were very grateful for funding that enabled us to extend our clinic building and waiting area last year. This has made more space for both the patients and nurses and we are so thankful for the dedicated teams that come out to make basic healthcare accessible to our community.
Khula Feeding
After education, feeding is one of the top priorities for us at Khula. We understand that a child cannot be expected to learn on an empty stomach. In our community, where poverty and unemployment are so high, there is a serious need for food security.
Khula Feeding provides two nutritious meals daily, five days a week, to our 120 Creche children. Additionally, 150 local primary school children receive a warm, cooked meal before attending our after-school educational programme.
Khula has two active feeding schemes in place to address this need:
After School Feeding Scheme:
The after school feeding scheme takes place every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon. Once the children arrive at Khula after school, and before they enter our Khula Educational classes, they receive a plate of food, a snack, and fruit.
Khula Food Parcels:
On a Thursday afternoon the children receive a small packet to take home. This packet contains basic staple food items such as rice or maize, soup or tea or noodles, fruit, occasionally fresh vegetables, biscuits, and a few sweets.
This feeding scheme was started in 2020 during the pandemic, but after seeing how much the community appreciated and relied on these packets, Khula was determined to continue with this project. We can have over 500 children on one afternoon and in 2023, Khula distributed well over 45,000 food parcels and more than 42,000 meals to the children in our community! This is a statistic we are immensely proud of, and we are so thankful for God’s provision through our funders to enable us to do this.
Khula Special Needs
Our Khula Special Needs Class was started in August 2022, when we noticed that there were numerous children in our surrounding community with major learning disabilities, who were unable to go to school. Operating five days a week, this class provides care and support for children with disabilities or special care needs.
In our community, there is not much knowledge about Special Needs or disabilities. Families are often embarrassed by children suffering from these disabilities and hide them at home where they are forced to sit around, doing nothing to stimulate their brains. This is why Khula is so passionate about caring for these children. We currently have two boys enrolled in this class, both with distinctive disabilities.
Khula 'Gogo' Carers
Khula opened our doors to volunteers on Mandela Day in 2023, and we were blown away by the response we received from local community members who were eager to help us make a difference. As a result, once a week, community volunteers join our team to visit the homes of elderly “Gogos,” (the isiZulu word for grandmothers), providing fellowship and support.
These volunteers, along with a few of our own Khula staff (and even our special needs learners) spend the morning cleaning and helping with tasks around the homes of the elderly.
Aside from getting exercise and some sunshine, our special needs learners help to pick up litter in the gardens of the gogos, and it has been amazing to see how powerful the realization is in these precious children, that they can do something to make a difference for others. Not to mention the benefits that these social interactions with the carers have on their confidence and self-esteem.
We have found that the elderly are often neglected during the day, and they are unable to do simple tasks for themselves. This is why we have decided to start this small project. It is also a time of fellowship, where the elderly feel seen and loved by our team. We alternate each week, and make sure to bring blankets, adult diapers, toiletries and other essentials on each visit. We continue to be amazed by the deep impact this outreach has on everyone involved.
Khula Youth
Our Khula Youth began in October 2023, when we asked Scripture Union to come out and spend two hours with the youth in our community (Primary School and High School children) on a Tuesday afternoon.
Now, it has evolved and grown to the point where we meet on Tuesdays for primary school children
and Thursdays for high school learners.
Attendees enjoy games, praise and worship, and lessons from God’s Word in a fun, supportive environment.
We have had Scripture Union and other churches visit Khula to sing worship songs, play games, and most importantly, share a Bible message with the children. The children absolutely love this time together in the afternoon, and on average, we have 150 children each afternoon.
