On Tues, Nov 30th, the HBC coordinator resigned. Transcape is still waiting for her resignation letter.
On 15 nov, philisa's roof blew off in a wind storm.
Philisa identified OVCs in their area for SPF using their survey. SPF has collected the surveys.
Siyakhula was audited and everything came out well.
Siyakhula had two awareness campaigns in two churches, methodist at No. 4 and methodist at Ngqeleni.
Mdumbi has filled out their supplier papers and turned them into SD. Now they are just waiting.
Mdumbi is helping the builders who are building their new office, which is nearly finished now.
Mngcibe is finished with their constitution.
Mngcibe will get training from SANTA and Temba in the beginning of Jan.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Mdumbi HBC has received 20 chairs, a nice big meeting table and a cupboard with drawers for their office furniture. The construction for their office rondavel has also started and is currently underway.
Mdumbi is also doing a survey on registering OVCs. Roger Hogg is coordinating that survey and hopefully an OVC project will be the result of this survey in how to best assist OVCs.
Philisa HBC is waiting for Social Development to give them a computer. They turned in an application last month and now are just waiting for SD to deliver.
Mdumbi is also doing a survey on registering OVCs. Roger Hogg is coordinating that survey and hopefully an OVC project will be the result of this survey in how to best assist OVCs.
Philisa HBC is waiting for Social Development to give them a computer. They turned in an application last month and now are just waiting for SD to deliver.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
october 13, 2010
Siyakhula gave out 72 school uniforms to OVCs this week.
Philisa is assisting another NPO, Small Projects Foundation (SPF) on registering OVCs. There was a workshop today to go over the surveys to make sure everything is understood. The surveys are in English and the carers don't speak or read english. So it was translated into Xhosa.
Having difficulties with Lindelwa, the hbc coordinator. She's refusing to talk about why she's upset about the program for the NAPWA launch. She just says she is not going and her carers are also not going to go.
Mdumbi bought their office rondavel for 15,000 rand.
Philisa is assisting another NPO, Small Projects Foundation (SPF) on registering OVCs. There was a workshop today to go over the surveys to make sure everything is understood. The surveys are in English and the carers don't speak or read english. So it was translated into Xhosa.
Having difficulties with Lindelwa, the hbc coordinator. She's refusing to talk about why she's upset about the program for the NAPWA launch. She just says she is not going and her carers are also not going to go.
Mdumbi bought their office rondavel for 15,000 rand.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
September 23, 2010
Siyakhula took 60 orphans to the Umtata river mouth yesterday for a picnic funded by Social Development. The social worker was there to speak and the kids really enjoyed their day relaxing at the river.
Today is a meeting about disabled people that the hbc coordinator, Lindelwa, went to. I'm sure she'll give a nice report in the next couple of days about the meeting.
Philisa was the fortunate receiver of a water tank from an organization called Living Waters. A very big thank you to those working so hard at Living Waters to provide a source of water for schools and home based care offices.
Transcape also received 40 hbc kits from SPF. Thank you SPF!! The carers have been asking for kits for some time now, so we are really appreciating the efforts of SPF.
Today is a meeting about disabled people that the hbc coordinator, Lindelwa, went to. I'm sure she'll give a nice report in the next couple of days about the meeting.
Philisa was the fortunate receiver of a water tank from an organization called Living Waters. A very big thank you to those working so hard at Living Waters to provide a source of water for schools and home based care offices.
Transcape also received 40 hbc kits from SPF. Thank you SPF!! The carers have been asking for kits for some time now, so we are really appreciating the efforts of SPF.
Friday, August 20, 2010
August 20, 2010
On Monday Lindelwa had a meeting with the area manager from Social Development in Ngqeleni. She said social development from Bisho said she must identify OVCs from Ward 25, the poorest of the poor, so that they can be registered and asked who could do that. Lindelwa suggested Mngcibe hbc. She got the NPO forms for Mngcibe to fill out and will work with Mngcibe to do their constitution and business plan. Then Mngcibe can apply w/ the government to register as an NPO.
Social Development said Philisa must submit from Oct 2009 to Aug 2010 their attendance register, ids and contract letters. They must be submitted to Bisho Social Development.
Mdumbi is busy re-submitting their NPO form, business plan and constitution as Social Development in Pretoria lost the first one. Anna is helping Mdumbi to fax those over.
Siyakhula is no longer cooking for the OVCs, the reason being there is no water in the river they can use for cooking. They still get food from Social Development for the soup kitchen. So they are getting a quotation to put roofs over their water tanks for next year.
All 3 HBC groups are busy running awareness campaigns on domestic violence to women as it is women's month.
Social Development said Philisa must submit from Oct 2009 to Aug 2010 their attendance register, ids and contract letters. They must be submitted to Bisho Social Development.
Mdumbi is busy re-submitting their NPO form, business plan and constitution as Social Development in Pretoria lost the first one. Anna is helping Mdumbi to fax those over.
Siyakhula is no longer cooking for the OVCs, the reason being there is no water in the river they can use for cooking. They still get food from Social Development for the soup kitchen. So they are getting a quotation to put roofs over their water tanks for next year.
All 3 HBC groups are busy running awareness campaigns on domestic violence to women as it is women's month.
August 10, 2010
On the 28th of July we had a Forum meeting with 3 organizations (Philisa, Mdumbi and Siyakhula) as well as with Caroline and Grace. Caroline said there was money for the hbc kits and for office equipment for Mdumbi.
Philisa had an opening day on the 30th of July. It was a big awareness campaign. Community members were being tested for HIV because the prevention team was also doing a campaign. Grace handed out the Temba certificates and Santa training certificates to show that these hbcarers have been trained. Social workers from Ngqeleni, Mzomtosho children's home, Thembelitshe children's home, small project foundation and other stake holders were there. Schools and OVC groups were singing and dancing. It was a beautiful day.
Siyakhula was having a workshop with NACOSA as they are going to start a new program of prevention with teenagers in schools. They are going to start this program from September 2010 to August 2011.
Mdumbi is busy trying to get proof of having a site for the land for their office. They need equipment and kits. Anna, who is volunteering for Transcape, is working to help Mdumbi get their NPO certificate.
On the 9th of August we had a nice women's day with Carina, the missionary's wife at Canzibe. We talked with 12-14 year old girls about teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDS.
Philisa had an opening day on the 30th of July. It was a big awareness campaign. Community members were being tested for HIV because the prevention team was also doing a campaign. Grace handed out the Temba certificates and Santa training certificates to show that these hbcarers have been trained. Social workers from Ngqeleni, Mzomtosho children's home, Thembelitshe children's home, small project foundation and other stake holders were there. Schools and OVC groups were singing and dancing. It was a beautiful day.
Siyakhula was having a workshop with NACOSA as they are going to start a new program of prevention with teenagers in schools. They are going to start this program from September 2010 to August 2011.
Mdumbi is busy trying to get proof of having a site for the land for their office. They need equipment and kits. Anna, who is volunteering for Transcape, is working to help Mdumbi get their NPO certificate.
On the 9th of August we had a nice women's day with Carina, the missionary's wife at Canzibe. We talked with 12-14 year old girls about teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDS.
Monday, August 2, 2010
August 2, 2010
Philisa Home Based Care had their awareness campaign/opening day on the 30th of June. This was combined w/ Transcape's prevention team as well, the first time these two sectors of Transcape have come together for an event. And the result was huge. Over 500 people came, all government sectors that were invited came to give a speech, Safafina Dance group had a couple of dances, an OVC dance group did 4 dances, a school choir sang a few songs, the prevention team performed a drama on STIs, and to finish up the day, there was a candlelight memorial. In addition to all of this, all guests and visitors were fed lunch!
Our HBC Forum meeting was last month on the 28th. The minutes are as follows:
Present: Siyakhula, Mdumbi, and Philisa
• If Caroline has diapers, she will tell us. If she doesn’t tell us, it means she doesn’t have any diapers.
• Fencing for Philisa’s office is being looked into. Hyman will check to see if all the building money was spent. If there is building money for Philisa left over, then they can use that for the fence materials.
• Philisa had a meeting on the 9th of July to discuss their opening day with their board members. They also had a meeting on the 16th of July, choosing 3 new board members to join the already active 3, for a total of 6 board members.
• 2 members from Mngcibe HBC can come to the forum meeting. Their transport will be paid for and they will receive lunch. They will not, however, receive any monthly money until January of 2011.
• Siyakhula will check with the guy on a quotation for the 2 water tanks’ roofs.
• Homebased carers do not receive stipends from Transcape because there’s money from the government for HBC. Prevention team receives stipends because there’s no money from the government for prevention.
• Lindelwa mentioned planting trees around the HBC offices.
• Transcape gave 670 rand for the remaining labor, slab and wire to complete Philisa’s toilet.
• Transcape also gave 1,145 rand for the firewood, gas, and candles for Philisa’s remaining items for their community awareness day.
• A question was asked why Gracie doesn’t go to HBC events. She told them she just needs an invitation a few days ahead of time so she can plan on her calendar. Up to now Gracie has been unaware of HBC’s events until she receives the reports at the end of the month. She is very willing to see what HBC is doing, so just ask her in advance.
• Quotations must include everything, from all materials to labor to transport of materials…One quotation for everything, not separate little quotations for this and that at different times.
• There is money for HBC kits for Philisa and Mdumbi. Hyman will check the budget to find out the exact amount we can spend.
• Hyman will also check on money for t-shirts.
• Philisa’s awareness campaign and prevention’s community awareness day event on the 30th is being planned well. Expecting a good turn out.
Our HBC Forum meeting was last month on the 28th. The minutes are as follows:
Present: Siyakhula, Mdumbi, and Philisa
• If Caroline has diapers, she will tell us. If she doesn’t tell us, it means she doesn’t have any diapers.
• Fencing for Philisa’s office is being looked into. Hyman will check to see if all the building money was spent. If there is building money for Philisa left over, then they can use that for the fence materials.
• Philisa had a meeting on the 9th of July to discuss their opening day with their board members. They also had a meeting on the 16th of July, choosing 3 new board members to join the already active 3, for a total of 6 board members.
• 2 members from Mngcibe HBC can come to the forum meeting. Their transport will be paid for and they will receive lunch. They will not, however, receive any monthly money until January of 2011.
• Siyakhula will check with the guy on a quotation for the 2 water tanks’ roofs.
• Homebased carers do not receive stipends from Transcape because there’s money from the government for HBC. Prevention team receives stipends because there’s no money from the government for prevention.
• Lindelwa mentioned planting trees around the HBC offices.
• Transcape gave 670 rand for the remaining labor, slab and wire to complete Philisa’s toilet.
• Transcape also gave 1,145 rand for the firewood, gas, and candles for Philisa’s remaining items for their community awareness day.
• A question was asked why Gracie doesn’t go to HBC events. She told them she just needs an invitation a few days ahead of time so she can plan on her calendar. Up to now Gracie has been unaware of HBC’s events until she receives the reports at the end of the month. She is very willing to see what HBC is doing, so just ask her in advance.
• Quotations must include everything, from all materials to labor to transport of materials…One quotation for everything, not separate little quotations for this and that at different times.
• There is money for HBC kits for Philisa and Mdumbi. Hyman will check the budget to find out the exact amount we can spend.
• Hyman will also check on money for t-shirts.
• Philisa’s awareness campaign and prevention’s community awareness day event on the 30th is being planned well. Expecting a good turn out.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
July 13, 2010
Philisa is busy identifying OVCs for Social Development. They are looking for child headed famillies and will report back to Social Development on the 15th of this month. They are also busy preparing and planning for their grand opening of their new office that Transcape was funded to build. The big day will be on the 30th of July. We will combine this event w/ our community awareness day, as Philisa is based in Ward 23. This way we can support our home based care group w/ our catering, music, and dramas from our community awareness day, as well as Philisa having their own program to introduce themselves and their office. All stakeholders are invited, government officials, community leaders and community members.
Siyakhula is waiting for a visitor from East London. They are from an organization called NACOTA. NACOTA is interested to do an assessment to fund Siyakhula, as they are already registered.
Siyakhula was also given 265 jars of peanut butter from SPF to give to the OVCs. The have organized an event on preventing teenage pregnancy. The OVCs were over 500, but only 200 were targeted.
Mdumbi is interested in taking other caregivers to the Temba training.
Siyakhula is waiting for a visitor from East London. They are from an organization called NACOTA. NACOTA is interested to do an assessment to fund Siyakhula, as they are already registered.
Siyakhula was also given 265 jars of peanut butter from SPF to give to the OVCs. The have organized an event on preventing teenage pregnancy. The OVCs were over 500, but only 200 were targeted.
Mdumbi is interested in taking other caregivers to the Temba training.
Monday, June 28, 2010
June 2010
The three home based care groups are doing awareness campaigns at the local churches. They started before the world cup and are continuing throughout the world cup. The topics that are discussed are: human trafficking, abuse and domestic violece, and rape. Mdumbi has done three awareness campaigns, Philisa two and Siyakhula four.
On the 15th of June, two carers from each home based care group went to attend a candle light memorial at Mgwenyane clinic at Libode.
Mdumbi said they have a site now for their office. The owner of the land passed away, so his parents are donating the land for the home based care office. We are waiting for a signed letter from the parents and the headman of the village saying this before anything further happens.
Mdumbi is also looking for chairs. When they receive visitors, they have nothing to offer their visitors to sit on.
Philisa is planning to do a big awareness campaign on the 30th of July at their office.
Lindelwa, the home based care coordinator, was invited by the hospital board to be a part of their monthly meeting. They are discussing how the home based care program and the hospital can work better together.
Next Temba training will be on the 26th of July for five days.
The small project foundation is going to provide 200 OVCs with peanut butter, so Siyakhule is planning to have an event that day as well, to talk about teenage pregnancy and STIs.
On the 15th of June, two carers from each home based care group went to attend a candle light memorial at Mgwenyane clinic at Libode.
Mdumbi said they have a site now for their office. The owner of the land passed away, so his parents are donating the land for the home based care office. We are waiting for a signed letter from the parents and the headman of the village saying this before anything further happens.
Mdumbi is also looking for chairs. When they receive visitors, they have nothing to offer their visitors to sit on.
Philisa is planning to do a big awareness campaign on the 30th of July at their office.
Lindelwa, the home based care coordinator, was invited by the hospital board to be a part of their monthly meeting. They are discussing how the home based care program and the hospital can work better together.
Next Temba training will be on the 26th of July for five days.
The small project foundation is going to provide 200 OVCs with peanut butter, so Siyakhule is planning to have an event that day as well, to talk about teenage pregnancy and STIs.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Events of the past few weeks in HBC
SIYAKHULA HCBC
-Cares from Siyakhula provided Ngonyameni families who were caught by lightning, from ward 26 with food parcels.The food parcels were costs R500 for each family.
-The Munincipality and Siyakhula's carers are working together to create a structure of stakeholders of Ngqeleni so that the stakeholders will be able to better support eachother.
-Auditors visited Siyakhula to check their books and found no flaws! This is really good news as it means they have an excellent chance of renewing their Social Development funding.
-The water tank at Siyakhula has been broken for some months and so carers have been having to fetch water from the river in order to cook for the OVCs. This week two carers were fetching water from the river and fell into the water ruining their cell phones. Both TransCape and Social Development are working on fixing the water situation at Siyakhula so they no longer have to fetch water from the river.
- Social Development also said this week that Siyakhula needs to make changes to their OVC soup kitchen as their office is not the appropriate place because it is at the edge of the ward and lots of kids are unable to walk to the office and so miss out on the program. They are planning to work closely with the support groups to effectively reach all the kids so the soup kitchen does not have to close.
-Siyakhula carers received Tshirts from both TransCape and the Kei wave in Mthatha, the place where they bought the 80 school uniforms.
-Lastly they have begun fixing the thatching on the roof of their office after working with a rather large hole in the roof for over a year.
PHILISA HCBC
-Lindelwa held a workshop with the carers to show them how to clearly understand the hospital book of a client. Understanding the hospital books will help the carers keep the clients from defaulting on their treatment.
-They also continue to collect reports and documents for social development.
-Philisa was able to do an awareness campaign at the funeral of one of their clients this week. Their client was very open about her HIV status, however she had been taking her medication incorrectly which led to her death.
MDUMBI HCHC
-Mdumbi is trying to organize a big awareness day, which they were hoping to have at the end of March, however because of lack of funding they have postponed it until May.
-Their leader, Ntombifikile, attended a conference in Mthatha on the 24,25, and 26 about human rights. This was held by Themba.
-After 3 months of waiting we received a responce to the NPO Status Application that we sent in to social development. The application was denied unfortunately, but for a very minor error, we were missing an ID number, so we are going to fix it very quickly and send it back. Here's hoping!
All The Groups
- All 3 groups attended the first workshop in a series of trainings and mentoring held by SPF on April 6&7. They will learn organizational skills as well as some home based caring skills throughout this course.
- This week we were able to distribute condoms, disposable nappies, and kits to all HBC offices. The kits are from the Department of Health and were unfortunately extremely inadequate. Not even enough supplies for one caregiver. So we are now looking into new options for kits.
-Cares from Siyakhula provided Ngonyameni families who were caught by lightning, from ward 26 with food parcels.The food parcels were costs R500 for each family.
-The Munincipality and Siyakhula's carers are working together to create a structure of stakeholders of Ngqeleni so that the stakeholders will be able to better support eachother.
-Auditors visited Siyakhula to check their books and found no flaws! This is really good news as it means they have an excellent chance of renewing their Social Development funding.
-The water tank at Siyakhula has been broken for some months and so carers have been having to fetch water from the river in order to cook for the OVCs. This week two carers were fetching water from the river and fell into the water ruining their cell phones. Both TransCape and Social Development are working on fixing the water situation at Siyakhula so they no longer have to fetch water from the river.
- Social Development also said this week that Siyakhula needs to make changes to their OVC soup kitchen as their office is not the appropriate place because it is at the edge of the ward and lots of kids are unable to walk to the office and so miss out on the program. They are planning to work closely with the support groups to effectively reach all the kids so the soup kitchen does not have to close.
-Siyakhula carers received Tshirts from both TransCape and the Kei wave in Mthatha, the place where they bought the 80 school uniforms.
-Lastly they have begun fixing the thatching on the roof of their office after working with a rather large hole in the roof for over a year.
PHILISA HCBC
-Lindelwa held a workshop with the carers to show them how to clearly understand the hospital book of a client. Understanding the hospital books will help the carers keep the clients from defaulting on their treatment.
-They also continue to collect reports and documents for social development.
-Philisa was able to do an awareness campaign at the funeral of one of their clients this week. Their client was very open about her HIV status, however she had been taking her medication incorrectly which led to her death.
MDUMBI HCHC
-Mdumbi is trying to organize a big awareness day, which they were hoping to have at the end of March, however because of lack of funding they have postponed it until May.
-Their leader, Ntombifikile, attended a conference in Mthatha on the 24,25, and 26 about human rights. This was held by Themba.
-After 3 months of waiting we received a responce to the NPO Status Application that we sent in to social development. The application was denied unfortunately, but for a very minor error, we were missing an ID number, so we are going to fix it very quickly and send it back. Here's hoping!
All The Groups
- All 3 groups attended the first workshop in a series of trainings and mentoring held by SPF on April 6&7. They will learn organizational skills as well as some home based caring skills throughout this course.
- This week we were able to distribute condoms, disposable nappies, and kits to all HBC offices. The kits are from the Department of Health and were unfortunately extremely inadequate. Not even enough supplies for one caregiver. So we are now looking into new options for kits.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Siyakhula: On March 8th they were able to give school uniforms to 80 OVCs in their area. On this day they held a party where the presentations were made along with speeches from government and other stakeholders from Ngqeleni. They have also been working with auditors this week to help them balance their books as March is their financial end of year. Aside from these, it is business as usual for the Siyakhula carers, doing door to door visits and running their soup kitchen with great success.
Philisa: They continue to have Imbizo awareness campaigns in the communities they are working. This week the carers from Manyosana presented Philisa to their community, to show the community members the carers who are working there. Many of the other members attended the Kwasa HIV Support Group meeting. This is the support group of which many of the Philisa members were members when they decided to start Philisa because they recognized the need n the area. Philisa has also started their own support group called Khuphukani to help those who can’t get to the Kwasa meetings. This week the caregivers also went to Nkantsini Junior Secondary School to find out how many OVCs are attending this school. They found 54 kids to add to the number they are already supporting.
For their Social Development application, they have been working on a Supplier Number application. This is a process that every NPO supported by Social development must undergo as they are supplying a service to their community. They were also able to get a support letter from the Headman, another requirement of Social Development.
Mdumbi: This week they worked very hard trying to get a system of reporting working. Lindelwa has been teaching them the TransCape reporting system and they also need a special reporting system for Social Development. They are also busy planning an awareness day in their community. They would like to invite all of the stakeholders in the area, especially the councillor, chief and social workers to help raise support for their program. We are still busy negotiating a proper site for their office. They have been given a piece of land however it is on the very edge of the ward, making it difficult to reach all of their potential clients.
As they continue to work door to door in their area, it is becoming clear that the people in this area face extreme challenges every day, even in comparison to the people living in the other wards. The caregivers have found a mama who has given birth to 7 children in her home because she was never able to make it to the hospital to give birth. Because of this, none of the children are registered and she cannot receive grants for them. The carers also found 2 orphans living alone and helped them to get grants, however after checking on them again, they have found that the older of the 2 children has been taking the money without helping the younger and the younger is suffering because of this. These challenges highlight the need for HBC in the Mankosi Area and points to the astonishing amount of work that must be done by these carers.
Philisa: They continue to have Imbizo awareness campaigns in the communities they are working. This week the carers from Manyosana presented Philisa to their community, to show the community members the carers who are working there. Many of the other members attended the Kwasa HIV Support Group meeting. This is the support group of which many of the Philisa members were members when they decided to start Philisa because they recognized the need n the area. Philisa has also started their own support group called Khuphukani to help those who can’t get to the Kwasa meetings. This week the caregivers also went to Nkantsini Junior Secondary School to find out how many OVCs are attending this school. They found 54 kids to add to the number they are already supporting.
For their Social Development application, they have been working on a Supplier Number application. This is a process that every NPO supported by Social development must undergo as they are supplying a service to their community. They were also able to get a support letter from the Headman, another requirement of Social Development.
Mdumbi: This week they worked very hard trying to get a system of reporting working. Lindelwa has been teaching them the TransCape reporting system and they also need a special reporting system for Social Development. They are also busy planning an awareness day in their community. They would like to invite all of the stakeholders in the area, especially the councillor, chief and social workers to help raise support for their program. We are still busy negotiating a proper site for their office. They have been given a piece of land however it is on the very edge of the ward, making it difficult to reach all of their potential clients.
As they continue to work door to door in their area, it is becoming clear that the people in this area face extreme challenges every day, even in comparison to the people living in the other wards. The caregivers have found a mama who has given birth to 7 children in her home because she was never able to make it to the hospital to give birth. Because of this, none of the children are registered and she cannot receive grants for them. The carers also found 2 orphans living alone and helped them to get grants, however after checking on them again, they have found that the older of the 2 children has been taking the money without helping the younger and the younger is suffering because of this. These challenges highlight the need for HBC in the Mankosi Area and points to the astonishing amount of work that must be done by these carers.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Group Updates
Philisa: This month Philisa finished their SANTA training and they have received their certificates. They did very well in the course and really enjoyed the training. Since they have finished they have been doing Mbizo(community meetings) awareness campaignes to let people in the communities know that they have received the training and that they are working in the communities. Their office is coming along nicely and will hopefully be finished by the end of the month.
Mdumbi: Lindelwa has been working hard with Mdumbi this month, training them in HIV treatment and how to use the patient's hospital card to better manage their care. This month 8 carers began their SANTA training and will be there for the next 6 weeks. Hopefully their training goes as well as it did for Philisa! Lately they have identified lots of OVCs in their communities who have no birth certificates and are not receiving grants. This means alot of work for the carers taking the children and their carers to Social Development to begin the process of getting the children registered. The carers feel that this job is so important that they will use their own money to take the chrildren to Social Development when the families are not willing to pay or can't afford the transport.
Siyakhula: This month they have identified 80 OVC to whom they are giving school uniforms. These uniforms will be given out at a party for the OVCs on the 8th of March and all the stakeholders in the area will be there for the presentation. Their drop in centre/soup kitchen for OVCs is operating everyday with an average of 200 kids coming everyday. Here the kids can get a well balanced meal everyday because often they don't get good food at home. The carers also help the kids with their homework at the drop in centre and counsel them about the problems they face everyday.
All of the groups have been reporting monthly to Social Development and we are working steadily to get their NPO applications processed so to bring them closer to getting funded. We are also still working at getting HBC kits from the AIDS Counsil. This week we are having our second HBC forum where we will meet with the leader of each group and collect their reports.
Mdumbi: Lindelwa has been working hard with Mdumbi this month, training them in HIV treatment and how to use the patient's hospital card to better manage their care. This month 8 carers began their SANTA training and will be there for the next 6 weeks. Hopefully their training goes as well as it did for Philisa! Lately they have identified lots of OVCs in their communities who have no birth certificates and are not receiving grants. This means alot of work for the carers taking the children and their carers to Social Development to begin the process of getting the children registered. The carers feel that this job is so important that they will use their own money to take the chrildren to Social Development when the families are not willing to pay or can't afford the transport.
Siyakhula: This month they have identified 80 OVC to whom they are giving school uniforms. These uniforms will be given out at a party for the OVCs on the 8th of March and all the stakeholders in the area will be there for the presentation. Their drop in centre/soup kitchen for OVCs is operating everyday with an average of 200 kids coming everyday. Here the kids can get a well balanced meal everyday because often they don't get good food at home. The carers also help the kids with their homework at the drop in centre and counsel them about the problems they face everyday.
All of the groups have been reporting monthly to Social Development and we are working steadily to get their NPO applications processed so to bring them closer to getting funded. We are also still working at getting HBC kits from the AIDS Counsil. This week we are having our second HBC forum where we will meet with the leader of each group and collect their reports.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Progress
January has been a month full of new starts in the Home Based Care Program!
Firstly, TransCape has a new HBC Coordinator! Lindelwa, the leader of Siyakhula HBC has agreed to work with TransCape now, to be the coordinator of our whole HBC program. TransCape couldn't have wished for anyone better for the job, as Lindelwa has been a pioneer of Home Based Caring in Nqgeleni.
This year we are starting up a forum for our HBC leaders. At the end of each month all of the HBC leaders will meet together with the HBC coordinator to hand in their monthly reports and discuss problems, successes and any new announcements for the month.
Our first forum meeting took place at the end of January with Lindelwa, Lindiwe (Siyakhula's new leader), Nontandazo (Philisa), and myself. Nonkululeko (Mdumbi) was unable to attend. At this meeting we were able to explain clearly how we expected the reports to be filled in and also how the New HIV program would work and how the HBCs would be involved. It was also raised that there is another HBC in Ward 14, and while we are unable to support them financially at this time, we will invite them to join our forum so that they can be learning from the other groups. Hopefully at the end of this month all of our HBC leaders will be able to attend so we can learn more about what is happening in their groups.
Jutta, an amazing donor with an extraordinarily large heart, will begin providing our groups with matress covers, linen protectors, and disposable nappies for their bedridden patients. At this meeting we discovered that Siyakhula has 11, and Philisa and Mdumbi both have 10 bedridden patients so this is a huge blessing for the carers.
Construction has begun on Philisa's new office building! Dave and his team of bricklayers began working on the lot last week and now Philisa anxiously awaits their new 2 roomed, flat-top office building.
Another positive note, if not a new start is that Philisa's carers are now about half way through their SANTA training and are doing very well. In a competition this weekend against the other training groups, they came in first place. Well done ladies!!
January has been a month full of new starts in the Home Based Care Program!
Firstly, TransCape has a new HBC Coordinator! Lindelwa, the leader of Siyakhula HBC has agreed to work with TransCape now, to be the coordinator of our whole HBC program. TransCape couldn't have wished for anyone better for the job, as Lindelwa has been a pioneer of Home Based Caring in Nqgeleni.
This year we are starting up a forum for our HBC leaders. At the end of each month all of the HBC leaders will meet together with the HBC coordinator to hand in their monthly reports and discuss problems, successes and any new announcements for the month.
Our first forum meeting took place at the end of January with Lindelwa, Lindiwe (Siyakhula's new leader), Nontandazo (Philisa), and myself. Nonkululeko (Mdumbi) was unable to attend. At this meeting we were able to explain clearly how we expected the reports to be filled in and also how the New HIV program would work and how the HBCs would be involved. It was also raised that there is another HBC in Ward 14, and while we are unable to support them financially at this time, we will invite them to join our forum so that they can be learning from the other groups. Hopefully at the end of this month all of our HBC leaders will be able to attend so we can learn more about what is happening in their groups.
Jutta, an amazing donor with an extraordinarily large heart, will begin providing our groups with matress covers, linen protectors, and disposable nappies for their bedridden patients. At this meeting we discovered that Siyakhula has 11, and Philisa and Mdumbi both have 10 bedridden patients so this is a huge blessing for the carers.
Construction has begun on Philisa's new office building! Dave and his team of bricklayers began working on the lot last week and now Philisa anxiously awaits their new 2 roomed, flat-top office building.
Another positive note, if not a new start is that Philisa's carers are now about half way through their SANTA training and are doing very well. In a competition this weekend against the other training groups, they came in first place. Well done ladies!!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
2010: A Year for Training and Awareness
Happy New Year!
2010 is starting off with SANTA trainings for Philisa HBC. SANTA trainings are 6 weeks long and are a practical and theoretical course in Home Based Caring. The carers are trained in a hospital in Mthatha and at the end receive their certification as a Home Based Carer.
Ten carers from Philisa are starting this training today and we had hoped that ten from Mdumbi HBC would also be able to start today, however because of some disorganization we will have to make a new booking for them later. Lindelwa and I will be spending time with them next week to help them get back on track with their work after the Christmas break.
We are hoping to be able to train the carers in many different areas over the next few months. PMTCT, VCT,POTTA, peer councelling, and wellness trainings are just a few of the trainings we are hoping to organize. Along with training them ourselves in monitoring and evaluation and business and management.
With the TransCape HIV program kicking off in Ward 22 this month, Siyakhula HBC will be feeling the impacts of more awareness in that area. 5 of their carers were trained in VCT and will be helping in the clinic and all of the carers are excited about attending the awareness days and being able to do more peer councelling.
Happy New Year!
2010 is starting off with SANTA trainings for Philisa HBC. SANTA trainings are 6 weeks long and are a practical and theoretical course in Home Based Caring. The carers are trained in a hospital in Mthatha and at the end receive their certification as a Home Based Carer.
Ten carers from Philisa are starting this training today and we had hoped that ten from Mdumbi HBC would also be able to start today, however because of some disorganization we will have to make a new booking for them later. Lindelwa and I will be spending time with them next week to help them get back on track with their work after the Christmas break.
We are hoping to be able to train the carers in many different areas over the next few months. PMTCT, VCT,POTTA, peer councelling, and wellness trainings are just a few of the trainings we are hoping to organize. Along with training them ourselves in monitoring and evaluation and business and management.
With the TransCape HIV program kicking off in Ward 22 this month, Siyakhula HBC will be feeling the impacts of more awareness in that area. 5 of their carers were trained in VCT and will be helping in the clinic and all of the carers are excited about attending the awareness days and being able to do more peer councelling.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Siyakhula OVC Christmas Party
Today was Siyakhula's last day of operation before Christmas. It was also the day of their OVC Christmas Party. It was such a wonderful event, filled with speakers and dancing and the giving away of duvet sets to 20 of their children.Representatives from Social Development and Small Projects Foundation spoke, along with the OVC Coordinators for both Philisa and Mdumbi HBCs and myself.
It was very good for Philisa and Mdumbi to be there. Events like these will soon be part of their programs and it is a very good learning experience for them to be able to see how these events are put on and participate in them.
Siyakhula has estimated that there are about 557 Orphans and Vulnerable Children, in their area who have been receiving services from Siyakhula since 2008. These services include blankets, winter clothes, uniforms, and food parcels, among other thing. They also have 50 foster parents participating in the support group they set up specifically for foster parents in their ward.
Siyakhula and especially Lindelwa received much deserved praises for the hard work they have been doing in their community. Here Lindelwa is dancing with a choir from one of the local schools.
Ntomfikile the OVC Coordinator for Mdumbi and Nontandazo, the Project Leader of Philisa speaking about their work and the importance of supporting OVCs.
This event was the last for Home Based Care for this year as all of the offices are now closed for Christmas. In January Lindelwa will begin working full time with Transcape as the HBC Coordinator and we will begin intensively training all of the HBCs together.
Happy Holidays!
Today was Siyakhula's last day of operation before Christmas. It was also the day of their OVC Christmas Party. It was such a wonderful event, filled with speakers and dancing and the giving away of duvet sets to 20 of their children.Representatives from Social Development and Small Projects Foundation spoke, along with the OVC Coordinators for both Philisa and Mdumbi HBCs and myself.
It was very good for Philisa and Mdumbi to be there. Events like these will soon be part of their programs and it is a very good learning experience for them to be able to see how these events are put on and participate in them.
Siyakhula has estimated that there are about 557 Orphans and Vulnerable Children, in their area who have been receiving services from Siyakhula since 2008. These services include blankets, winter clothes, uniforms, and food parcels, among other thing. They also have 50 foster parents participating in the support group they set up specifically for foster parents in their ward.
Siyakhula and especially Lindelwa received much deserved praises for the hard work they have been doing in their community. Here Lindelwa is dancing with a choir from one of the local schools.
Ntomfikile the OVC Coordinator for Mdumbi and Nontandazo, the Project Leader of Philisa speaking about their work and the importance of supporting OVCs.This event was the last for Home Based Care for this year as all of the offices are now closed for Christmas. In January Lindelwa will begin working full time with Transcape as the HBC Coordinator and we will begin intensively training all of the HBCs together.
Happy Holidays!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Planning
Lately my work with the homebased care groups has been alot more office based than work with the groups themselves. I have been working closely with Lindelwa, the project leader of Siyakhula and soon to be Home Based Care Coordinator for TransCape. Together we have been making a plan for how we would like to add quality to the care provided by the groups throughout the next 2 years and more specifically for me over the next 6 months.
One of our biggest goals for the groups for over the next coming months is that they will all be using a system of reporting with which we will be able to gather information about each client and the type of care they are receiving from the carers. We would like this information to be both outcome based, showing what services are being provided and who exactly is receiving those services, and also personal enough to be able to easily monitor that each individual patient is receiving the proper care from their carer.
We also plan to provide more trainings for the carers, most importantly getting all of the carers certified for home based caring. Some of this training has already begun, with 5 members of Siyakhula and one member each from Philisa and Mdumbi being trained along side the prevention teams in Voluntary Counselling and Testing.
The Home Based Care groups are all getting ready to wrap up their years and take a break for christmas which means that a lot of work must be done in the next 2 weeks in terms of planning for the start of next year.
Lately my work with the homebased care groups has been alot more office based than work with the groups themselves. I have been working closely with Lindelwa, the project leader of Siyakhula and soon to be Home Based Care Coordinator for TransCape. Together we have been making a plan for how we would like to add quality to the care provided by the groups throughout the next 2 years and more specifically for me over the next 6 months.
One of our biggest goals for the groups for over the next coming months is that they will all be using a system of reporting with which we will be able to gather information about each client and the type of care they are receiving from the carers. We would like this information to be both outcome based, showing what services are being provided and who exactly is receiving those services, and also personal enough to be able to easily monitor that each individual patient is receiving the proper care from their carer.
We also plan to provide more trainings for the carers, most importantly getting all of the carers certified for home based caring. Some of this training has already begun, with 5 members of Siyakhula and one member each from Philisa and Mdumbi being trained along side the prevention teams in Voluntary Counselling and Testing.
The Home Based Care groups are all getting ready to wrap up their years and take a break for christmas which means that a lot of work must be done in the next 2 weeks in terms of planning for the start of next year.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Door to Door with Mdumbi HBC
I was given the opportunity to spend the day going door to door with the caregivers of Mdumbi Home Based Care this past week. What an eye opening experience that was! It was amazing and eye openning for me to be able to see into the lives of the people of the community in which we are working.
From this experience I was able to see first hand the work that the caregivers are doing everyday. This gives me a better idea of how to add quality to their program. One thing I noticed about the Mdumbi group is that they seem to be working more as social workers, than healthcare workers. Many of the homes that we visited were those of orhpans or vulnerable children (OVCs) and we talked to the guardians about how to get foster care grants and how best to care for the children. While we did see some patients with medical problems, such as TB or chronic pain, I saw more counselling being done than hands on patient care.
The ability to counsel clients and direct them to the appropriate services are definate strengths, however these strengths need to be built upon with other forms of care, such as bathing patients and treating minor medical issues as there is a high need of these forms of care in their community.
A couple of images from the day:
Nosiseko has been counselling this tata in how to care for his 2 orphaned grandchildren who have come to live with him. She is helping him to get a Foster Care grant and teaching him important things about caring for children.
This Mama lives alone and had no one to care for her when she was released from the hospital after being treated for TB so Ntombifikile visits her every day and cooks and cleans for her and gives her a bath.
I was given the opportunity to spend the day going door to door with the caregivers of Mdumbi Home Based Care this past week. What an eye opening experience that was! It was amazing and eye openning for me to be able to see into the lives of the people of the community in which we are working.
From this experience I was able to see first hand the work that the caregivers are doing everyday. This gives me a better idea of how to add quality to their program. One thing I noticed about the Mdumbi group is that they seem to be working more as social workers, than healthcare workers. Many of the homes that we visited were those of orhpans or vulnerable children (OVCs) and we talked to the guardians about how to get foster care grants and how best to care for the children. While we did see some patients with medical problems, such as TB or chronic pain, I saw more counselling being done than hands on patient care.
The ability to counsel clients and direct them to the appropriate services are definate strengths, however these strengths need to be built upon with other forms of care, such as bathing patients and treating minor medical issues as there is a high need of these forms of care in their community.
A couple of images from the day:
Nosiseko has been counselling this tata in how to care for his 2 orphaned grandchildren who have come to live with him. She is helping him to get a Foster Care grant and teaching him important things about caring for children.
This Mama lives alone and had no one to care for her when she was released from the hospital after being treated for TB so Ntombifikile visits her every day and cooks and cleans for her and gives her a bath.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Introduction
As part of Transcape's HIV/AIDS program we are currently supporting 3 home based care groups. Home based care is an important part of the HIV program, giving support to those people in the community who are bedridden or elderly. The caregivers go door to door to see patients and assist them with their basic needs, going to the clinic or hospital and accessing governments services.
Siyakhula Home Community Based Care was the first group to be established. Lindelwa Portia has worked as their project leader since the beginning, and with her help the group has been able to become an independant Non Profit Organization and receive funding from the Department of Social Development.
Mdumbi HBC and Philisa HBC are our newer groups, both groups came together in 2008. Lindelwa has also helped these groups to start up and given them some training in homebased caring. They are still both in the development stages however, with alot of organizational work still to be done. Philisa has completed an NPO application and has submitted a funding proposal to Social Development and is now just waiting to hear back for their answer. Mdumbi is still working on preparing their constitution and business plan to submit to Social Development with their application and proposal.
In October participatory workshops were held with all three groups to discuss the work they are doing in their communities and their goals and needs for the future. These workshops were all very successful and the information gathered from them will be transfered into the HIV strategy that is being put in place by Transcape.
Some of the needs raised by the groups:
-Home based Care Kits, with the supplies needed to treat their patients when they do home visits. Supplies such as gloves, masks, disposable nappies, pain killers, etc.
- Philisa and Mdumbi need offices. Philisa has now been given a plot of land from the ward counsilor and Mdumbi is still in discussions with thier ward about their plot.
-Gardens. All three groups would like to have gardens where they could grow vegetables to give to their patients who have no food and sell to make money for other projects they would like to begin.
Also in October, all three groups were given 50 laying hens. The eggs were meant to be given to the OVCs and then sold as a source of income for the group. The groups have had some trouble with getting the chickens to start laying eggs, however as the chickens settle down into their new homes we should begin to see more eggs than we know what to do with.
These groups are all extremely energetic and passionate about the work that they are doing in their communities. I am excited to see how these groups develop in the next few months.
As part of Transcape's HIV/AIDS program we are currently supporting 3 home based care groups. Home based care is an important part of the HIV program, giving support to those people in the community who are bedridden or elderly. The caregivers go door to door to see patients and assist them with their basic needs, going to the clinic or hospital and accessing governments services.
Siyakhula Home Community Based Care was the first group to be established. Lindelwa Portia has worked as their project leader since the beginning, and with her help the group has been able to become an independant Non Profit Organization and receive funding from the Department of Social Development.
Mdumbi HBC and Philisa HBC are our newer groups, both groups came together in 2008. Lindelwa has also helped these groups to start up and given them some training in homebased caring. They are still both in the development stages however, with alot of organizational work still to be done. Philisa has completed an NPO application and has submitted a funding proposal to Social Development and is now just waiting to hear back for their answer. Mdumbi is still working on preparing their constitution and business plan to submit to Social Development with their application and proposal.
In October participatory workshops were held with all three groups to discuss the work they are doing in their communities and their goals and needs for the future. These workshops were all very successful and the information gathered from them will be transfered into the HIV strategy that is being put in place by Transcape.
Some of the needs raised by the groups:
-Home based Care Kits, with the supplies needed to treat their patients when they do home visits. Supplies such as gloves, masks, disposable nappies, pain killers, etc.
- Philisa and Mdumbi need offices. Philisa has now been given a plot of land from the ward counsilor and Mdumbi is still in discussions with thier ward about their plot.
-Gardens. All three groups would like to have gardens where they could grow vegetables to give to their patients who have no food and sell to make money for other projects they would like to begin.
Also in October, all three groups were given 50 laying hens. The eggs were meant to be given to the OVCs and then sold as a source of income for the group. The groups have had some trouble with getting the chickens to start laying eggs, however as the chickens settle down into their new homes we should begin to see more eggs than we know what to do with.
These groups are all extremely energetic and passionate about the work that they are doing in their communities. I am excited to see how these groups develop in the next few months.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
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