Currently the Pratt's have projects in Mbabane, the capital city and Emkhuzweni, a rural                    community in the north.  In Mbabane, LFA has established the Sandra Lee Center; a home
    for orphaned and abadoned babies.  The center now has 27 children with room to grow up to         40.  They range in age from 10 months to 16 years.  There are currently 6 homes on the             property.  Four are run by a trained 'house mother' plus a helper.  The fifth house is being                 used as a pre-school for the younger residents of the SANDRA LEE CENTER.  As they grow           older the children are enrolled in local schools.  Tuition, uniforms, and shoes are provided by          LFA as school is not free nor is it compulsory.   Four of the older children have been blessed           with scholarships to private schools.                        

    In the north, the EMKHUZWENI COMMUNITY PARTERNERSHIP CENTER has been                             developed as a response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic that has infected 40% of the population            of Swaziland.  As families are impacted with the enormous death toll of people in their prime,           a network of support is developing for children and youth who are being left behind to fend             for themselves.   The priority remains to help orphans stay in their ancestral home with                      unhindered access to their maize fields.  Where there is no extended family to care for these            children, LFA field workers will monitor them at home and in school, that is, if they are going            at all.  In cases of sexual abuse or land right fights emergency shelter is available at the                     Center.

    There are at least 130 families (that number will have grown by the time you read this) within            a 5km radius of ECPC that have been orphaned.  These families are left to survive on their                own or are dependent on married siblings that do not have sufficient means to provide for               them.  Food aid is sporadic or often non-existent.  That is why LFA is also  focusing on a                   community garden where traditional drought resistant crops can be grown.  Each family will           have a plot assigned to them that will provide enough for them to be self-sufficient.  A                        successful nursery has been established to raise much needed funds to operate the center.            Seedlings from the nursery are used in the garden at the Sandra Lee Centre.

    Vocational training in areas such as gardening, raising eggs, broiler production and the                    milking of goats will be available in the near future.  A sports program, initially for girls who               play netball, has been established as well.  The idea is to keep the young girls involved in                 mentoring relationships that will help postpone their sexual debut, ideally until marriage.                  Sadly, there are many casual sexual encounters based on economic survival that                                perpetuates the spread of HIV/AIDS.  The objective is to get these kids involved in                               community, relationships with peers and authority figures, and provide them with goal                      oriented team activities.

    Michael has been involved in various rural development projects such as the                    
    production of roof tiles that are being made at the center by local women who have either                 been widowed or abandoned by their husbands, and left to care for their children as well as            others taken in out of the kindness of their hearts.   A principal focus of the ECPC is to
    introduce economic activities that employ local women  and create profits to be put back
    into the center. To that end, LFA purchased ROOF TILE  molds, which produces concrete
    roof tiles that are cheap, durable, and very functional.  Traditionally, roofs are made of reed
    or recycled metal. Reeds have to be replaced every 5 years at considerable effort, while
    metal roofs are poor insulators from heat and cold, as well as hard to come by. Concrete
    roof tiles are much preferred, and the ECPC can sell them for cash or barter for goods that
    can be used for other ECPC efforts.

    Some of these women also make traditional BASKETS of sisal that are purchased by LFA                 and sent to the U.S.  They make beautiful gifts, particularly because of the story behind them.          The baskets are purchased at above market rates, and then sent to the US for resale.  Every            penny raised from those sales goes directly back to the Community Partnership Center.                   Michael effectively runs a "bank" for the basket ladies, advancing funds when money is tight          for food or when school fees are due, against future delivery of baskets. For most of these               women, basket sales are their only source of cash, as subsistance farming does not spin off           any excess money. 
      
    Recently, it was suggested that a library/reading facility be added to the center as a way of               attracting children who may not be interested in sports or who cannot afford the cost of                    tuition.  The idea was enthusiastically received.  Illiteracy in Swaziland is a huge problem.                 Currently we are devising ways to raise much-needed funds to get this project off the ground.        Ultimately, we'd like to have a computer class as well as books and other basic necessities. 
    The Center now has electricity and water storage tanks used for irrigating crops.



PROJECTS