{ history
Penny Dugan (of New Jerusalem Missions) began taking short term outreaches to Africa in 2001 but the seeds of Ukukhanya were not sown until 2003, when she received a call from Pastor Prince Sithole with Good News Ministries inviting her to Ntuzuma, a township North of Durban in the province of KwaZulu Natal, one of the most highly infected areas in sub-saharan Africa. 500,000 Zulu live in the area and about 47% are HIV infected.
It was serendipitous in the way adventures of faith often are: Sithole was sorting through a clothing container from the States when he discovered a Power for Living brochure featuring Penny's work in Kansas. He felt they had the same mission: to build a hospice by faith, to show the love of Jesus to people with AIDS. He invited her to visit and in 2004 she came over with a small team and began bringing workers for 3-4 weeks at a time to come alongside Pastor Prince and Good News.
In 2007, Penny felt the Lord asking her to alter the way she was conducting the outreach. She would live in South Africa for a few years and walk alongside the ministry to those with AIDS. Good News had gone through their tough times and in 2007 an outreach team came from the States and combined with those at Good News and an Awareness Campaign was held. It was for this campaign that Pastor Prince was led to John 1:5: "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." Ukukhanya means "light in the darkness." Penny and New Jerusalem Missions & Prince Sithole and Good News Foundation began a new work called Ukukhanya Life Care Centre.
Ukukhanya Life Care Centre operates as an outreach of New Jerusalem Missions but is now its own NPO in South Africa. The vision is to show the love of Jesus to people affected by AIDS by providing physical, emotional, and spiritual support by taking the Good News of the Gospel to the community of Ntuzuma.
Ukukhanya became incorporated in 2008, and now at the end of 2009 is anticipating the opening of the first fourteen beds of a hospice, and continues developing the Home-Based Care Program.
Part of the plan for Ukukhanya Life Care Centre is to create employment for people in Ntuzuma and stipends will be raised for salaries. Please see ways you can support Ukukhanya by considering sponsoring staff or caregivers. Your support can help create a job. In a time of unstable economies and people losing their jobs at an incredibly high rate, what a wonderful way to sow seeds of hope into lives by helping sponsor a job that provides care for the sick and dying. See ways to help at left: "How You Can Help."