Community Based Care Centres
In conjunction with our Home Based Care programme we plan to set up Community Based Care Centres which will be physical focal points within affected communities, allowing those who have sick and dying family members to get in touch with other members of the community who have received training from UVHAA in responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
This will make a profound difference to the many people who have sick and dying family members, no access to transport in order to reach the far away hospital, and no money even if they did have access to transport. Indeed, many of these families live in dire poverty and do not even have sufficient food to feed the healthy, or even soap and water. In many cases there are no healthy people available to care for the sick, or children whose parents have perished.
Our Care Centre programme will thus serve to bring people together, empower them to both learn how to care for the sick and dying, and also provide a place where people can be brought to receive treatment from our Home Based Care teams who will attend the Care Centre’s at appointed times.
In June 2008 we held meeting with the Department of Agriculture and have submitted a proposal which is likely to lead to implementing our first Community Care Centre in Amandawe.
This proposal involves two vandalised buildings which we hope to be given on a free lease by the Dept of Agriculture. We will then need to secure funding (about £5000) in order to renovate the buildings. Once renovated, the building will provide a much needed service to the local communities, and will enable more people to access our services in a better environment.
Without visiting Umdoni and Vulamehlo it is hard to envisage the extremely rural nature of these areas, and the almost complete lack of infrastructure, which makes it difficult to access sick people whose huts are often over an hour's walk from the mud road.
As security is an issue (we will have a computer in each Care Centre in order to record client details and the services they have received) we are happy that we have negotiated for the Amandawe Centre to be manned 24 hours as a satellite police station.
When finalised, this project will be a good example of success in our aim to develop mutually beneficial partnerships between communities, UVHAA and government agencies.
Projects > Income Generation
Sewing Groups
One of our long term objectives is to empower local community groups to develop ways of generating their own income, thereby increasing self-esteem and reducing reliance on handouts.
Whilst most of our energy goes into dealing with the critical needs of patients who require Home Based Care and vulnerable children whose survival is in jeopardy, we are also active in assisting with Income Generation projects.
To date two Sewing Groups have been started, which each train 10 local women in sewing techniques.
We have purchased sewing machines, and paid a community member with sewing experience to train these women in how to sew basic household items such as table cloths, aprons, curtains etc.
One of the challenges with this work is that there are so few people in the local communities who have any money at all. Many people suffer severe food shortages, and most of the population who do have an income receive only a small state pension or grant. Also, it is simply not possible or profitable for community members to pay for taxis to the nearest town up to 70 kilometres away in order to sell their goods.
However, even a very small income from the sales of the Sewing Groups can make a big difference to their ability to support their families, and the programme also benefits local women by increasing their skills base.
We hope in the future to be able to assist sewing groups and community members with food garden projects by setting up a stall at the Saturday market in Scottburgh.
We hope to enlist support for manning the stall from volunteers who live in Scottburgh, and to be able to collect good from rural groups, sell their goods, and then return the profits to them.
In this way we will be developing self reliance and increasing community based responses to Poverty.