Sarah Wilkins 

Chairperson

Sarah & her husband have lived & worked at Madwaleni since 2018. She is a Speech-Language Therapist with a special interest in early childhood intervention - having completed her Masters in Early Childhood Intervention in 2020. She has been involved in our ECDC & Qhawekazi Projects since their inception, and was elected as Chairperson of our Board in November 2022. Her experience in management, programme development & clinical experience positions her perfectly to see the organisation through this exciting developmental phase.

Katy Miller 

Executive Director

Katy is an Occupational Therapist (OT) who arrived at Madwaleni Hospital in 2013 with her husband, who was a community service medical officer at the time. In 2014, she co-founded the Layita Foundation while working as an OT in the hospital, and has volunteered as its manager since 2015. As a working mother with small children, she has co-established the Masikhule ECDC, and steered Layita through its foundational years & into a season of flourishing growth where it finds itself today. She was officially appointed as the first Managing Director of the organisation in 2021. In 2023, Katy was honoured as Rural Therapist of the Year.

Christopher Westwood Finance Director

Chris is a Medical Officer who arrived at Madwaleni for his Community Service in 2018, and took up a permanent position from 2019. Chris has completed his HIV Diploma & is currently a Registrar in Family Medicine. His time at Madwaleni has taught him many skills thus far - including Excel spreadsheeting, carpentry, plumbing& parenting! Chris supports Layita through assistance in administrative functions, financial planning & statistics management.

John-D Lotz 

Director

John-D & his wife, Michaela, arrived at Madwaleni as Medical Officers in 2014. Since then, they’ve had children, planted gardens & been awarded joint-Rural Doctors of the Year in 2021. Now specialised in Family Medicine, John-D serves in various roles; including as a Senior Clinician at the hospital & an acting lecturer at Walter Sisulu University, co-leading the local Madwaleni Church, and supporting the growth of Layita. He has been a voting member since 2015, and now serves on the board of directors, playing a key role in the Masikhule ECDC.

Somie Nodipha 

Director

‘Nodi’ is a Professional Nurse who has been at Madwaleni since 2008. She is originally from Bizana, EC. She is very involved in the church life of the hospital & local community. Her passion for paediatrics & youth ministry has translated into her supporting a number of young people with programmes & projects locally, as well as back home in Bizana. This involvement has given her an astute awareness of the needs of specific individuals & the general community. Her practical insights & guidance, offered in her wise and joyful manner, have been a vital facet of her leadership as a voting member since 2021, and on the Board of Directors since 2022.

Philip Timberlake 

Director

Philip has been the Chief Financial Officer at Liberty Health since 2015 working with health insurers across Africa, including holding directorships in Nigeria & Mozambique. After studying accounting, his career began with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2006, after which he joined Liberty Holdings (Ltd) in 2009. He lives in Cape Town but was inspired to support Madwaleni Hospital after he visited in 2013. He has served Layita with his business & financial knowledge & guidance since 2015, as a voting member of the organisation. He now serves on the Board of Directors.

Thandi Conradie Physiotherapist | Founder

Thandi is one of the Founding Directors of Layita Foundation & spent six years working as a Physiotherapist at Madwaleni Hospital. Since leaving Madwaleni in 2018, she has continued to serve rural rehabilitation services through Rural Rehabilitation South Africa (RuRESA), as well as by spearheading essential research into the rehabilitation workforce in rural South Africa. Her work thus far has thus had both local & national impact. Besides Layita’s work in local communities, her research is helping motivate for improved rural access to rehabilitation services at a policy-level, and helping develop further guidelines within SA.

Jessica Westwood Medical 

Doctor | Programme Lead 

Jess & her husband arrived at Madwaleni as Medical Officers in 2018 - the fulfilment of a dream that Jess had held on to since her elective here as a student in 2013. With a passion for maternal & child health as well as equity in health care, she holds Postgraduate Diplomas in Child Health & Community Paediatrics. She puts her excellent administrative & leadership skills to use coordinating our Hospital Support Programme.

Michaela Lotz Medical 

Doctor | Programme Lead 

Michaela & her husband, John-D, arrived at Madwaleni as Medical Officers in 2014. Since then, her passion for Child Health has led her to help establish Madwaleni’s first Neonatal Ward, co-founding and developing our Qhawekazi Breastfeeding Support Programme along with Sarah, and overseeing the Paediatric Wards at Madwaleni. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Community Paediatrics. In 2019, she was honoured (along with her husband) as joint-Rural Doctors of the Year, in recognition of her extraordinary & persistent efforts in rural healthcare over the preceding years.

Unathi Qakamba 

Enrolled Nurse

Unathi’s is proudly local, from a village neighbouring Madwaleni. He is an enrolled nurse and has worked at Madwaleni Hospital since 2009. His family is prominent in the area and in the hospital, and he serves a valuable role in providing insight and guidance. He completed his training as an enrolled nurse at the nursing college based at Madwaleni (Lilitha College) in 2004.

Sinovuyo Dimanda

Clinical Associate

Sinovuyo is a Clinical Associate who has been working at Madwaleni since 2017. A proud daughter of our surrounding communities, she & her family have a long history with the hospital well before she ever returned to work here. She now serves as an integral part of the Clinical Team at the Hospital, and her extraordinary skills & efforts in rural healthcare were deservingly recognised in 2019 when she was awarded the honour of Rural Clinical Associate of the Year. On top of all of this, she is also a well-known musical artist, and is passionate about using her influence & life story to inspire young women from this community to pursue their dreams & follow successful careers one day.

Andy Wilkins

Medical Doctor

Andy arrived at Madwaleni as a Medical Officer in 2018. He has grown to be a committed leader in the hospital community. As a senior Registrar in Family Medicine, he helps provide clinical support to the team during busy work days, while he also co-leads our local Madwaleni Church. As a husband to Sarah & a father to beautiful twin girls & a baby boy, his passions include excellence in rural healthcare, our Wild Coast shoreline as well as the amazing people he lives & works with every day here at Madwaleni.