Thembalethu Report (April 2007 – February 2008)

The past ten months since Thembalethu started have gone by in a flash. We’ve learned and done a lot in the process. A great deal of time has been spent in developing relationships, systems and policies, as well as the organization itself. Through the Home-Based Care givers generosity, and with the support of Winterton Methodist Church, we have been able to help a large number of sick people get improved home palliative care, and provide advocacy and assistance for patients in accessing ARV and TB treatment. Additionally, many orphaned families have received advice and advocacy to help them access Social Welfare grants, as well as food assistance.

Summary of Activities

• Working with 30 Home-Based Care volunteers in 10 different villages of Emangweni (Loskop) who have cared for 96 patients since April 2007. Of these, 70 remain under HBC care, the bulk of these fully ambulant and strong, many of these stabilized and supported with treatment adherence support. We have been very sad to have lost 26 other patients over the course of the last six months. Our focus has been primarily HIV/AIDS and TB cases, which make up a total of 95 percent of all HBC patients.
• Supporting HBC volunteers in monthly support meetings to monitor patient status, do on-going training, and find solutions to patient situations. Introduced and trained HBC volunteers in filling out patient forms to monitor patient health, visits, trainings and information conveyed, and their children.
• Distributed veggie seeds (onion, spinach, carrot, beetroot, and pumpkin) to 30 home-based caregivers for their family gardens and to assist their patients and neighbors in need. Additionally, we are distributing seeds to the orphaned families and indigent patients that we are supporting who are interested in planting veggie gardens.
• Distributing protein-packed nutritional booster porridge to critical immuno-suppressed Home-Based Care patients. Over 110 packets of porridge have been distributed to date.
• Gave out food hampers to 35 Home Based care volunteers, the first they had ever received, to thank them for their voluntary work with the sick and orphaned in their communities.
• Meetings to initiate and strengthen relationships between the Local Tribal Authority and Local Municipality, as well as local Social Workers, the Injesuthi Clinic, including the TB tracer, and the government’s paid Community Health Workers. On-going collaboration and cooperation with these partners to better reach the community. Referral letters to the clinic, hospital and social workers are assisting with patient and orphan care and access to resources. Rape cases that had been going on for months without intervention have been expediently and effectively handled by collaboration between the HBC volunteers and the social workers.
• Supporting 27 families of orphans and vulnerable youth (83 children in total) with advice and assistance in obtaining foster care grants and other social welfare assistance. Also, helping meet their immediate needs for food, clothes, blankets, etc.
• An HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention presentation to 120 school children in grades 4, 5, 6, and 7 a (October 2007) and an HIV/AIDS awareness presentation to 35 parents at Madolobheni Primary school. (November 2007)
• 83 individuals tested and counseled in two days for HIV at a successful VCT drive in Gourton, at the municipal offices. The VCT counselors from Estcourt Hospital came to help us out with this, and plans are underway for the next VCT drive after the first was so successful. (September 2007)
• Registration of Thembalethu Care Organization as a South African Non-Profit Organization is almost finished.

Challenges

Social Welfare: There continues to be a major backlog at the local Amangwe Social Welfare (Child Welfare South Africa) office, where as many as 100 cases dating back to 2003 have fallen through the cracks. Additionally, there are many cases where we’ve been able to assist orphaned families in accessing the emergency three month food parcel, only to find that after the three months, their case is far from being finalized for the foster grant. This is aggravated by the inexperience of the social workers and their NGO’s six month lack of a supervisor which has created an even bigger backlog of recent cases waiting to be signed. With a committee of other concerned community members, we've just sent various letters to the Department about the NGO's lack of service delivery and the resulting unnecessary suffering of orphans and vulnerable children.

Training: Almost three years ago, Xoli was trained as a trainer of Home-Based Caregivers by the Department of Health. We have been working with various other HBC organizations to try to find additional train-the-trainers courses on the recent developments in HIV/AIDS, TB, and ARVs, without luck. It seems in the past few years the trend has been to move to Professional Nurse trainers/managers of Home-Based Care programs. Nevertheless, I will continue to look for a refresher course for Xoli, and into other training sources.

Looking Ahead

Working together with a local businessman, another local NGO, and the Imbabazane Municipality, a Loskop Support Centre has been opened. The initial plan is to used the municipally-donated buildings to cook orphans and vulnerable children food before and after school, and to help with their school work until they receive the social assistance provided by the government. Additionally, Voluntary Counseling and Treatment (VCT) services are to be provided, giving the community a much-needed alternative location to test for HIV.

A three-day Direct Observation Treatment (DOTS) TB training for all HBC volunteers is in the pipeline for April 1-3. The first part of Christian Listener’s three-part training, Learning to Listen, is scheduled for early May. The following two trainings (Listening in an HIV+AIDS Environment and Listening to Children in Difficult Circumstances) are set for August and November.

We are also continuing to seek out trainings in nutrition and ARV treatment literacy, as well as community care of orphans and vulnerable children, although additional funding sources may be needed to make this possible.

Financials

ADDITIONAL INCOME (above church sponsorship, from South African and US Sources): R 54,300.90

THEMBALETHU EXPENSE BREAKDOWN TO 31 Oct 2007

R 1,162.03	Admin
R 6,875.82	Communication
R 21,386.65	Total Program Expenses
R 70,000.00	Program - Bakkie
R 19,523.82	Transport (Petrol +Maintenance + Insurance)
R118,948.32	TOTAL