If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.

If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin. - Charles Darwin

Adult HIV Education classes -

In the communities, many myths about HIV and AIDS still prevail. I learned the depressing fact that over 80% of the Zulu people I have interacted with, and most of children have HIV and are currently receiving minimal treatment (statistics do not seem to have improved since 2009). A Zulu woman has even told our project manager at our HIV/AIDS education course that they all believed that the white people have a cure for the virus and we’re all just hiding it from them.

To try to lower this statistic AI has started a HIV Education class that travels around to clinics or anywhere they can groups of people together, to give information to those who live with the disease about healthy living choices for themselves and others, as well as preventive measures for those not yet infected. They give a 3 day class and give out certificates to all those that complete the course. I was only able to attend 1 class as I had promised to do some work on the books at the house which unfortunately fell on the last 2 days of the course.
To help with the classes on how to properly use a condom they have had a local fellow carve a number of wooden penises! As they didn't think we would have enough to go around on our first day of class we stopped to pick up some of those every present bananas from the market. They would do in a pinch as substitutes. Well, when the time came, none of the men would take the bananas - they all wanted the wooden penises, it was quite a hoot. A man thing I suppose. Lots of giggles from the ladies about the whole affair of using one.
This class was made up of workers from one of the local cane farms. They were all given the time off by the owners to attend the classes after Alana had spoken to them at length to get approval.

Sophie making sure practice makes perfect. I pulled this pic off the AI website.

The cane farm where we held the class - in an area called Monzi



 Home based visits were more interesting than in Livingstone. We visited Gogo breast cancer - a poor woman who has had a mastectomy that was not healing well. She had been trying to help by applying local herbs concoctions to her open wound, which all had to be picked off, the area washed and re-dressed. We left her with extra dressings and instructions on cleansing. We visited Gogo Big Mama who is morbidly obese. She lays on her mat all day and makes a small income by buying packs of loose tobacco and repackaging into small baggies for re-sale. Her blood pressure was checked and she was again encouraged to get exercise of some sort. Then there was Smiley Lady, Gogo High BP, Skinny lady (don't you just love how the volunteers keep track of whose who?) and Mr. Gun-shot victim. He had been shot in the leg. Couldn't tell you how it had happened though. His wound was healing well, but he had massive swelling in the legs, so we went over some possibilities with him as to what the causes might be. The accompanying volunteers were once again surprised at my input, wanting to know how I knew this stuff. Again I told these ones, "just life experience and what I have seen and dealt with in my own life and family" They all seem so surprised that without medical training you can have any knowledge or understanding.


Gogo Big Mama

Some districts surrounding St Lucia are ranked as amongst the most deprived districts in South Africa. The population of KwaZulu-Natal has been devastated by the effects of poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

As I mentioned while writing about the Livingstone project it's perplexing as to how to promote healthy living – particularly in these devastating poor areas. It's a difficult thing to promote in a society where people have very little money to spend on adequate nutrition.

I was happy to hear about the 10 Families Project that was on going here in St. Lucia.

An opportunity arose to work with a local business Hornbill House, who wished to partner with African Impact in supplying them with the nutritional supplement "EPap." I had heard of similar nutritional supplements from documentaries I have watched an was interested to see and hear how it was working.

They started out with four families which were all clearly suffering from a lack of basic nutrition, among other health needs that could be remedied by using EPap, which will give them added vitamins and nutrients and give their immune systems a boost.　Members of the families suffered from TB, HIV, cancer, broken arms, fungal infections, skin rashes, arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes and fatigue. They were up to six families benefiting from this programme.

 

Skinny Lady

Smiley lady

Mcabangeleni  - below - was assessed while I was on the project. He was disturbingly under weight and had lost the use of a leg. He lay on a mat most days with no energy to even try to get up. I understand he has put on an amazing amount of weight. Starting at 49.1kg, now he is 62kg and his motto for life is "no problem!"
As the patients are progress they will be assisted in setting up their own gardens and shown how to make this a sustainable resource for food.

Gogo breast cancer's house