Training
Home-Based Care
Sister Mseleko with Jabu Molefe and her child, Sine.
This one week training programme was run by Sister Mseleko from the Ixopo clinic and covered such areas as Primary Health Care and the more common opportunistic infections arising from HIV/AIDS. Some of the illnesses looked at were TB, shingles, oral and vaginal thrush, skin eruptions, diarrhoea and weight loss. Good nutrition, basic hygiene and the importance of clean water were also discussed.
First Aid
First Aid Training.
Sister Mseleko also did a weeks training on various First Aid topics such as, wound care, burns, ulcers, scabies, home made splints and slings and CPR.
Social Pensions and Grants
Bonginkosi Ndlovu from the Social Securities Department in Ixopo explained all the pensions and grants offered by the government and all the papers required to access them. He also went through the long bureaucratic procedure of applying for these grants.HIV/AIDS
Some of the sick in the community. All of the patients pictured here have now died. Jabu Molefe and Vulindlela Vilakazi from Siyaphila Support Group offered a 3 day course on HIV/AIDS. Jabu and Vulindlela are both HIV+ themselves; they shared their experiences of living with HIV in a hostile environment which was both enlightening and saddening. Some of the areas they covered in their programme were prevention, infection control, home remedies for treatment, good nutrition, living positively and pre and post test counselling. They also gave a detailed and very comprehensive analysis of the virus.
Counselling
Weekend at Dharmagiri The Community and Development Outreach programme in Pietermaritzburg offered a 3 day counselling workshop. Pre and post HIV/AIDS test counselling formed an important part of this training. General counselling skills were also covered. Maxine Linell from the Karuna Institute offered a very inspiring one day counselling skills workshop with the Woza Moya volunteer team. Please see Maxine's own account this day. Kittisaro and Thanissara facilitated a weekend workshop at Dharmagiri on Death, Dying - A meditative approach, for the whole Woza Moya Team. This was a very powerful weekend which made us all realize that a lot more time and work is needed in this area. Kittisaro and Thanissara will be offering on going training and support for the Woza Moya team here.
Counselling has become increasingly important in the volunteers' work on the ground. With HIV/AIDS being at pandemic levels in the community, with no access to treatment and many people also suffering from malnutrition, the death rate is high and ongoing. This often leaves the volunteers feeling helpless, their only option being to help people through the dying process with pain relief and counselling.