Anne

The Hope Centre Clinic opens on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays here in Zandspruit. It is a one-stop-shop for people with chronic illness in the community to get treated for either hypertension or diabetes alongside other day to day illness. Recently I had an opportunity to catch up with a few people in the clinic as they waited to be seen by the nurses and will be reporting back via this blog on the individual experiences of these people:
 

The first lady I spoke to was Anne. Anne is 65 years old, and lives alone in Zandspruit after her husband passed away. She runs her own business ‘it is gas cylinders’ she tells me, ‘I exchange empty ones for full ones, just a little gas stove shop but it helps me to pay for my food and things’.

Anne came to the clinic today for a referral letter because she is moving tomorrow from Zandspruit to a new home in West Rand. She explained to me how she came to attend the Hope Clinic, the problems she faces in her community and why she is here today:

‘On the day I saw a screening tent in the street, I was not feeling well at all. I felt this day I had to die, so I thought I will sit down at this tent to die. A man sitting at the tent said to me ‘’go and see the nurses at Project Hope’’ they honestly saved my life. My BP was very high, 198 over something, I can’t remember what it was but they told me it was dangerously high. I didn’t even know there was a clinic here, but it made my day and they saved my life.

My husband died a couple of years ago, and you know there are a lot of problems being a widow and being old. People discard you and do not want to know you. Conditions are a problem here in Zandspruit. For example for a long time a man has walked across my shack roof and my neighbours every night, and I am afraid. He hasn’t tried to come in but it makes me think about the way I am living and my future. After coming to the Hope clinic and getting well I decided that I had a future and did not have to live like this.

Sometimes there are things you want to talk about, you keep them here in your chest, but there is no one to listen, so you keep it to yourself. One time I came here to the Hope clinic a member of the team was kind to me and I opened up about my problems. I have such high regard for the people here, because they have time for patients. No-one else would listen to me, and I'm sure it helped me feel better.

I wished to get out of Zandspruit and because I had my health back I was able to feel strong enough to think about the future. Today I am looking for a referral letter because I am going to stay in town for good. A long drive in to West Rand.

They are very helpful here. I wish that there will be a Hope clinic where I am moving to. Other clinics have no time for patients, you feel that they don’t want to talk to you. How can they help you when they don’t even want to talk about what is wrong?

Where I am going, the weather is hotter and there is little water, the home is small but it is better than a corrugated shack. Maybe my blood pressure will get right’.

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Rachel Miller's reflections on volunteering and VSL in Zandspruit

It’s hard for me to believe that my two weeks in South Africa have come to a close so quickly. The saying “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” has never seemed more valid.

This trip has made me think very soulfully about life and our purpose on earth. Life is a blessing; it is a confusing gift we must all sort out. At the end of the day, I always return to a phrase I was raised with: tikkun olam (pronounced tee-koon oh-lohm). It is a Hebrew saying, meaning “repairing the world” or “making the world a better place”. My experience in South Africa has reinforced my passion for acting on this central belief.

Acts of kindness and a common HOPE for a brighter tomorrow can make all the difference in the world. As Americans, we get so caught up in our “first world problems”. I, myself, have been known to complain when the air conditioning is broken or a restaurant has overcooked my steak. In Zandspruit, a place where most homes are simple tin shacks and the bulk of families cannot afford to eat three meals a day, people hold their heads up high and walk with smiles stretching across their faces. These people laugh often and relish in the beauty of the little things.

Children playing at Emthonjeni

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This past Thursday, Tsholofelo (our field officer)and I hosted an interest meeting to introduce *VSL to the community. One particular attendee was David Nesengani. He is a pastor from Healing World Ministries here in Zandspruit.  His stoic presence was heart-warming as he sat through our meeting, front and centre, expressing his gratitude in careful English:

“Your work here truly makes a difference in people's lives. This is what is important. It is about people coming together and working together to better ourselves. Project HOPE is a very fine organization and the people will be very grateful for your work. I encourage you to have more one-on-one sessions about VSL with people because it is such a good thing.”

Another person named Solomon attended with his wife, Dorah. He spoke of forming a VSL group comprised of pensioners to help them manage their money, since they only get paid once a month. He told Tsholofelo in Sepedi, “thank you for bringing such a program to Zandspruit. It will help us pensioners to manage our money.”

A few of the attendees of the VSL meeting. David is on the far right. Solomon
and Dorah are behind him.

 

This, my friends, is what it is all about! Project HOPE touches lives. We bring HOPE and opportunity to places where it is difficult to find. I have never felt more proud to be a Hopie.

Sincerely,

Rachel

*My reason for coming to SA is to introduce a new program to the HOPE Centre: VSL, which stands for Village Savings and Loans. VSL is an economic strengthening methodology that helps people save money, make profit on their savings, and take out  loans. Groups of 8-15 people are formed and HOPE trains them on the methodology throughout a cycle (about 1 year). Each group also elects a Health Activist we train on varying applicable health matters (ex: diabetes, nutrition, diarrhea, HIV, etc). They, in return, provide the newly learned health education to their group. At the end of the cycle, the group’s money is shared out proportionally,  based on how much each person saved, and they then have the opportunity to continue with a new cycle in which they will be able to operate independently. VSL offers a form of insurance in  places where people often do not have money stored away for a rainy day,. We hope the program will complement our existing ambitions of improving people’s health and access to healthcare, thus continuing to increase their standard of living.

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VSL in South Africa - Rachel Miller's Blog

I arrived in this picturesque country on Saturday February 2^nd. Ten days later, I am thrilled to report on the work I came here to accomplish.

 

The Setting

Rachel and Tsholofelo at the Hope Centre

A township called Zandspruit, about 30 minutes from Joburg. Currently, Stefan is running a wonderful program focusing on diabetes and hypertension. The staff here are incredibly hard workers and it is evident they are proud to be Hopies. *Our Project HOPE t-shirts are the envy of the community!* The office here is part of Emthonjeni Community Centre which consists of: our HOPE office, a community bakery, a crèche (nursery school), and of course the clinic. The middle ground has beautiful trees-some that explode with exquisite pink flowers- and lots of green grass. The best part is: in the afternoon the lawn fills with giggles and songs from the little ones just out of crèche. Even though we sit in a poverty-stricken community where most structures are tin shacks, the HOPE Centre offers an atmosphere of beauty and (fittingly) …hope.

 

VSL

Rachel training local nurses and community screeners about VSL

My reason for coming here is to introduce a new program to the HOPE Centre: VSL, which stands for Village Savings and Loans. VSL is an economic strengthening methodology that helps people save money, make profit on their savings, and take loans. Groups of 8-15 people are formed and HOPE trains them on the methodology throughout a cycle (about 1 year). Each group also elects a Health Activist which we train on applicable health matters (ex: diabetes, nutrition, diarrhea, HIV, etc). They, in return, provide this health education to their group. At the end of the cycle, the group’s money is shared out proportionally based on how much each person saved, and they then have the opportunity to continue with a new cycle in which they operate independently. In a place where people often do not have money stored away for a rainy day, VSL offers a form of insurance. We hope the program will complement our existing ambitions of improving people’s health and access to healthcare.

 The Work

Children of Zandspruit

My first full week here I spent my days working in the office 8-5, eating a quick dinner, and working from home into the night. There is quite a bit of planning and preparation that goes into launching a successful VSL program. I had fun creating colourful flyers to hang around the community and hand-outs to promote our public interest meeting. A slew of other documents were important in the preparation phase. We interviewed several people for the job of Field Officer (the person that will train the groups and supervise after I leave). We hired a spunky young woman named Tsholofelo Mathebula. She laughs often, works hard, and is proving to be an excellent promoter of VSL. This week, I am spending my days in the field (yay!)- trekking around the slums with Tsholofelo and talking to community members about VSL. Although my arms look like lobsters from sunburn, I am loving every second. Responses have been quite positive- people are very interested in making the most of their money. I often receive stares, because it’s weird for a white person to be walking around the township, but I have only been met with welcoming arms. The children love to have their pictures taken and are a big fan of the fruit snacks that Cheryl Smallwood sent them. 

 

The Next Step

The “next big thing” is the public community meeting which we are holding this Thursday. In addition to Tsholofelo and I promoting on foot, I also trained the group of community screeners who are attempting to screen 1,000 people for diabetes and hypertension this week. Now, they have a basic understanding of VSL and a handful of hand-outs to give out to their recipients. We hope a nice gathering of people will show up on Thursday to learn more about VSL and form groups. After that, I will head home and leave the groups in the capable hands of Tsholofelo and Carol Diplock (another spectacular HOPE employee here).

Tsholofelo talking to commuinity members about VSL 

Conclusion

There are a million more things I could talk about, but I am amazed you have even read this far! I will conclude. I have been involved at headquarters for over three years and am impassioned every time I learn something new about a field program. I feel so privileged to play a role in one of these special programs. It is a glorious confirmation of HOPE’s outreach and impact. I am grateful for this opportunity and so thankful to every person who made it possible for me to be here. Here’s to hoping the VSL program will see great success!

Cheers from a proud Hopie,

Rachel

Rachel training Tsholofelo on evaluations

 

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Day 1 - Orientation in Zandspruit

Jo Burt and Dottie Newsome, volunteer nurses from Utah, USA are here in South Africa for two months to help with the HOPE Centre Program. They will be posting frequent blogs about their adventures...

Dottie Newsome and Jo Burt arrived in Johannesburg from the U.S. on Saturday January 19 ready to embark on their two month volunteer placement with Project Hope, South Africa. After a weekend of acclimatizing to Johannesburg and a warm welcome from Stefan Lawson, Country Director for Project Hope & his family, the real work for Dot and Jo began:

Monday morning came very early with the time change and jet lag, but we were excited to begin our adventure!  We travelled to the Project Hope offices and Hope Centre Clinic where we met the staff and the new Community Health Workers (CHW’s) who were beginning the latest Health Screening Project with us.  The staff are great and Lebo who is the trainer for the CHW’s is fabulous.  We spent the morning with the teams and did orientation with them.  There are 10 CHW’s and they are extremely excited to be working with Project Hope. 

We spent time with Stefan learning more about the project and what our specific responsibilities would be and then we met with Carol , the Operations Manager, H.R. Director and ‘jack of all trades’ who further oriented us to the community. She was a wealth of knowledge and made us feel very welcome and helped us understand roles and details about our stay. 

For the afternoon, we verified screening competency of the CHW’s.  Competencies included measuring for: height, weight, abdominal circumference, BMI, random blood glucose, and Blood Pressure in each arm.  The staff were great and passed off the skills learned with confidence.  We divided in to our teams and each team was assigned an area of the community to conduct the screenings in.

Then home to our apartment.  We were pretty tired and glad to get home, but took advantage of the beautiful weather and went walking around our neighborhood for a while.  I am afraid that we were in bed fairly early.

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