Day 12 April 2

This is actually our last day with the KMP and Umvoti staff. We started the day arriving at the Matimatolo Clinic in Umvoti. I'm not sure we were actually expected, because the head nurse for the clinic didn't seemed to please to see us and I could understand why when I saw the waiting room of the clinic filled to capacity with waiting people. We were ushered into one of the counseling rooms for some question and answer time (but here, I was feeling guilty again, holding up all those people, some who probably came for miles, from getting the attention they deserved). We asked if they kept records of the HIV/AIDS testing numbers and if they might be permitted to tell us what those numbers would be. They checked the records for the last month they had and told us that 50 percent of the women and 60 percent of the men who had been tested where HIV positive. They figure that 1 person could easily infect 500 others, by the ripple effect! No wonder there is such an epidemic! We asked if they promoted breast feeding to infected mothers, to which we were told yes, much to our amazement and shock. The mothers would take the anti-retro virals while pregnant, so as not to infect the babies, then breast feed? What sense did that make, we asked. It seems that there is a certain amount of formula available to new mothers, but they told us that families were not always able to get it, I suppose because of the hardship of getting back and forth to the clinics, no funds to purchase any from the stores and that there was also the problem of clean water for mixing the formula as well as washing the bottles etc., so they feel that having the mothers breast feed is a 50/50 proposition. The child may or may not get infected from the mother (there were cases they cited where it had not happened) or it may or may not get deathly ill from unsanitary conditions. The old 'caught between a rock and a hard place' it sounds like. They told us that it was very hard to find and keep nurses in the clinics, because the wages were so poor, and most of the clinics are in very rural areas where the staff live at the clinic, so most wanted to stay in the cities, or did not stay long. They too, like the other clinic we visited, saw an average of about 2000 people per month.We were shown through the rest of the clinic, which was much the same as the last one and then led out onto the shaded porch were we were introduced to 3 young people who are part of the loveLife program. They are school graduates who volunteer their time to go around (any way they can get there; mostly walking or hitch-hicking) to local schools to teach HIV prevention to the children. One of the young ladies recited the speech she gives at the schools and it was very moving and I think would make a lot of sense to the children. I've pulled some info from their web site and think it's worth checking out.
http://www.lovelife.org.za/
'loveLife is South Africa’s national HIV prevention programme for youth. loveLife has brought together a broad based coalition of international foundations working in HIV/AIDS prevention, major South African media organizations and private corporations, the government of South Africa, and leading South African non-government organizations with one shared goal – to turn back the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, and related epidemics of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, among South Africa’s young people.'
'Launched in September 1999, loveLife seeks to substantially reduce the HIV infection rate among young South Africans – and to establish at the same time a new model for effective HIV prevention among young people.'

It was then time to say good-bye to the staff of Umvoti ADP and the people at the clinic.
We next headed back into the KMP ADP where we were to visit a couple of project made possible through the WV Gift Catalogue. The first was a micro enterprise which is explained best by an article in the WV manual.

Micro-finance: Breaking the Chains

of Poverty Hope, dignity and lasting change
are provided through World Vision’s
Micro enterprise Development Program.
Current statistics from the World Bank
reveal that 1.2 billion people live in desperate poverty on less than US $1 a day. Almost all lack the training, education or opportunities needed to support their families and contribute to economic growth within their communities. For decades, World Vision has sought to address the root causes of poverty. One of the latest innovations is the establishment of specialized micro-finance institutions (MFI’s), which are active in 47 of the 100 countries where World Vision operates. World Vision Canada partners directly with some of these MFI’s as needed or requested. Other economic development programs, such as animal banks, are not always of a monetary nature. For example, there is a revolving loan of two goats (one male/one female). As the goats reproduce, the individual can have milk for the family and sell the remainder, and sell extra goats for meat, etc. All that is required at the end of the year is the return of two goats. Since other members in the community will be the next recipients, the in-kind loans are often regulated by the community itself. An interesting aspect of the provision of micro-credit is that it allows clients to employ other members of the community as their businesses grow. There is over a 90% repayment rate on the loans. A large percentage of individuals receiving the loans are women.
We visited a chicken farm being run by a group of about 8 women. They had 3 different areas set up, with different ages of chickens from chicks to full grown. It was all very clean and seemed very well looked after. The ladies were also known locally as a group of traditional dancers and would perform at different functions. They met us dressed in their dance garb and performed a few of their special dances. When we left the farm we passed a number of homes that had solar power panels on their roofs and I later read in one of my pamphlets that these were also provided through the WV gift catalogue. Imagine having power to run a few lamps when you were dependant on candles before. What a difference for a child trying to do homework on dark winter nights. Next we were taken to another child-headed household where the children had been living in even more appalling conditions than the ones seen the day before. Both parents had died of AIDS, so they had been living with their grandmother, who had also recently passed on. We could see her grave, very close to the old house. Through the Gift Catalogue WV was able to build these children a new 2 room house. We could see between the old house and the new an area where the children had made several attempts to build something for themselves, but, we were told, it had kept falling down, before they could get very far with it. Looking at the house they had been living you could see that most of the walls were falling down, great areas of the roof were missing and there were the worst, big poisonous spiders sharing with them.








The KMP staff were now in the process of teaching the young woman how to put in and manage a vegetable garden and other life skills.
It was now time to head back to the KMP office where Jordan, Bailey, Marie and Terry were to meet with the members of the AIDS support group that we had met in the first week. They were trying to arrange something where they would be able to import some of the crafts and handiwork of the group for re-sale in Sask. and BC. I haven't heard what happening with that project yet. After their meeting was over it was time to say good-bye to everyone. I was feeling a great sense of leaving family behind. It's amazing how fast we can become attached to people that we have only recently met. Perhaps the emotional filled days drew us closer. Nobuhle gave a thank-you speech to us, which I wish I had of known was going to happen, because I would so love to have had it recorded on my camera. All of us were in tears. As I have said before she is the most amazing woman and talks so passionately that if I had of had that thank you speech here for everyone to hear, I don't think there would be one of you who would not be looking for some way to help these people. I feel that I have a whole new family that have been left behind in Africa.