Founder and director: Thanda

At 22, Angela Larkan pioneered a smart solution to a local crisis. The estimate that there will be 5.7-million orphans in South Africa by 2015 catalysed Larkan into returning home from the USA to KwaZulu-Natal’s South Coast and, in founding Thanda, work to change the statistic. More than 300 orphans and vulnerable children are fed and supported daily through Larkan’s primary project, Thanda After-School.

Using a sustainable model that incorporates after-school care into orphan care and shares the spirit of ubuntu, Larkan is helping communities to help themselves. From using existing schools and soccer fields to employing local youth as teachers, building a community library and starting a beadwork project to fund her efforts, Larkan’s practices are far-reaching in both the lives of the locals and their potential for large-scale replication. It’s no wonder then that, at 28, Larkan is already a Levi’s “Go Forth” global campaign ambassador and was named Clarins’s “Most Dynamic Woman of the Year 2012”.

— Lu Larche

Website: thanda.org