Tradition meets modernity

This past weekend, the volunteers and staff attended the inauguration of Bheki Nkosi as the new Induna of Ezwenelisha.

In a lovely blend of traditional culture and modern politics, the ceremony lasted about three and a half hours and took place at the Induna’s residence in Ezwenelisha.

With many of the men dressed in traditional Zulu warrior attire, the ceremony began with the arrival of the Inkosi, the region’s king. 

A band of men headed down to the end of the road to accompany the king, chanting and singing their way up through the gate of the house and towards the large tent set up for the ceremony.

What must have been over 300 people attended the gathering – an important one, as Indunas are not frequently replaced unless one of them passes away, like Mr. Buthelezi did last August. It took months for the committee of the Inkosi as well as Ezwenelisha’s committee to choose Bheki as the new Induna, and during the ceremony it was even revealed that the community came together to vote on who would be their next leader.

The Inkosi gave a speech filled with advice to the new Induna, saying that he must listen to his people and be faithful to them, and that he must listen to them in order to make the best decisions for his people. 

In return, the Inkosi also told the growing crowd that they must help their new Induna by being truthful to him, so that he can make decisions for the improvement of the community.

Mr. Mhkwanazi, the Induna of Khula Village, acted as the master of ceremonies for the event, and gave some advice to Bheki to work with local organisations, naming African Impact in particular.

What was so exciting about the ceremony was not only its rarity but also the mixture of traditional and modern ways. The new Induna wore traditional warrior attire, while other officials wore suits and fancy dress. Some of the women, including Bheki’s first wife, were dressed in a beautiful mixture of modern clothing and traditional scarves and shawls. The music included old Zulu chants and songs combined with a DJ who later sang Bob Marley.

It was a ceremony that African Impact has been waiting for, as many of our projects and initiatives have been put on hold until the new Induna is chosen and we can liaise with him about the improvements he wants in his community. In the coming weeks we will surely be paying a visit to the new Induna to decide our next steps in the community.

New Project Alert: Reading Club

Medical volunteer Donna telling the boys about the
magic of reading and how to respect the library.

After months of deliveries, cleaning and organising, on April 23rd we finally opened the container for use by the Khula Afterschool Club.

Although the container is not fully finished (we still need to organise some of the books, move around some of the shelves and sort some of the multiple copies of adult novels), we decided to have a handful of our learners from Khula participate in our very first Reading Club.

We chose some of the oldest kids present that afternoon at Senzokuhle, and ended up with eight boys taking the walk over to the Induna's office, where the library now stands.

Before anyone entered the container, medical volunteer Donna gave everyone a speech about the magic of books, and how they can take a reader to far-away places and teach them many things. Most importantly, Donna discussed with the boys how they need to respect the books in the library so that others can have magical experiences, too. As a result, the boys were very careful and gentle with the contents of the library - something we hope to foster with later groups.

Community volunteer Menke (in the
background) and community coordinator
Shwele reading with some of the boys. 

Ranging from grades eight to five, two learners were paired with each of our volunteers and picked books off the shelves. For the mostpart the boys wanted to learn about the world, and picked non-fiction books from one section of the library. They learned about birds, why penguins don't fly and about traditional celebrations all around the world, just to name a few!

We were all pleasantly surprised at just how well some of the boys read, and by choosing books at their reading level they were able to read to each other with just a little encouragement from the volunteers. To help the boys with reading retention, the volunteers asked questions about the subjects that had been read and discussed with the learners.

All in all, a wonderful afternoon was had by everyone and although the Reading Club only lasted about half an hour because the boys had to go eat their dinner, we're eager to get back into the container with more of the Afterschool Club kids to show them just how fun reading can be!

Afternoon tea with the butterflies

Yesterday, volunteers and staff had a wonderful afternoon at the Isiphaphalazi Butterfly House. We received a very informative presentation regarding the life cycle of butterflies and then got to walk through the butterfly house, filled with all sorts of butterflies at various stages of life.

Although it was a rainy day in Zululand, we also sat outside at the organisation's recently opened Tea Garden. Thanks to manager Tessa, we received tea along with a wonderful array of scones, muffins and cupcakes.

We've decided to return on a bi-weekly basis to the butterfly house, which is a community-run organisation that provides employment to many of the people we work with in Khula Village. The Isiphaphalazi Butterfly House also provides local school children with educational seminars to teach them about preserving butterflies as well as other species and wildlife.

Set against the beautiful backdrop of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, we can think of no better way to spend an afternoon than basking in the beauty of the community we work in while relaxing with a warm cup of tea!

Update: 10 Families

The Zikahle family, one of our current 10 Families.

The following is an update from our 10 Families project, written by medical volunteer Miriam.

Over the last few months the 10 Families Project has gotten off to a great start. We currently have six families benefitting from this programme and will be adding more within the coming weeks. 

Rapid improvements have been seen in weight gain, body fat and the amount of energy the patients now all have. Meline Tembe, for example, has surprised everyone. When starting the project in February she was 41.9kg and her latest recorded weight was 50.6kg. This has enabled her to now do simple things that she was not able to do before such as washing, cooking, cleaning and playing with her grandchildren. She also now always has the most beautiful smile on her face!

Mcabangeleni Mthembu has also 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 progressing so rapidly we now can start thinking about the next stage. We will be assisting them in setting up their own gardens and showing them how to make this a sustainable resource for food.

Everyone is very appreciative of the work we are doing for them and everyone is looking forward to starting the next stage of their journey. 

In Photos: April 9 - 15

We were back at creche this week since the
holidays are over! Here's community volunteer
Marly teaching at Simunye Creche. 

Our garden at the Lifeline Building in Ezwenelisha, which
was started in partnership with our support group, is coming
along nicely with pumpkin, carrots, beetroot, onions and
spinach having been planted these last few weeks. 

The Induna stopped by our Ezwenelisha
Support Group this week, and got a pedicure
along with the rest of our members!

Community volunteer Marly playing with some of the kids
at our Khula Afterschool Club on Wednesday.

Volunteers Emma and Marieke were hard at work
continuing to organise the container's books. 

Four of our medical volunteers spent a lovely weekend at
Bayete Game Reserve. Here they are at the lodge's elephant
interaction, petting Rambo.

In Photos: April 2 - 8

On Monday we welcomed five new volunteers, and
celebrated by watching the sunset on the estuary.

The new volunteers got right to work, having a Zulu lesson
with some of the African Impact staff.

The medical volunteers did yoga
with our Ezwenelisha Support Group.

On Thursday, the volunteers continued
to paint the AI logo on the St Lucia wall!

On Friday it was brick building time, with Zakhele showing
some of the volunteers how it's done. 

Then it was off for an exciting weekend in Mozambique!

Monthly Update: March II

Some of the members of the Zikahle family. 

10 Families

Our medical volunteers have been working on the Nutrition Program for a month and have enjoyed tracking both the Ezwenelisha and Khula patients. We have seen dramatic improvements in the majority of individuals taking the e’Pap nutritional supplement. Volunteers in March started to create gardens for some of the families to help them continue living healthily, beginning with the Dube family, who were healthy enough not to need e'Pap but still struggling to find enough food. 

We were saddened to learn that the mother of the Zikahle family died as a result of complications with breast cancer. We are continuing to help her family in any way that we can - we have delivered food parcels to the family and are continuing to supply the rest of the family with pap and the medical attention they require. 

On the bright side, Nonhlahla has been very compliant with taking the e’Pap and has had so much energy that it has been difficult to find her at home since she is always in town or visiting friends. Skinny Lady has enjoyed the added energy and was even able to travel to Mtuba to go shopping by herself, something that she has been unable to do for many months, and Melina has been feeling better and she has gained close to 7 kg. over the course of the month.  

Home Based Care

This month our sole medical volunteer, Teresa, was able to refine some of the improvements made to our  programme by our February volunteers. She had a very productive month, visiting many of our old patients while seeing some new patients.

The month began with volunteers bringing one of our young HBC patients, who is HIV positive, to Afterschool Club and watching her enjoy herself and play with other children. We are also happy to share with you all the Pendukile’s sister's large wound on her neck has started to heal and has decreased in size dramatically over the course of the month. The volunteers also visited with Veronique, a new HBC patient, many times this month. Veronique became a HBC patient after the volunteers and Nokwethemba found her sitting on the side of the road while they were beginning their rounds. During our visits she has been given suggestions on how to avoid constipation and been provided with nutridrinks, food parcels, and the comfort of our presence. Also, Gogo President’s leg wounds have healed and she has been feeding herself. 

In Ezwenelisha we have also a new patient, Sipho, who we met when the volunteers were intending to visit Gogo Breast Cancer. He showed the volunteers his right leg, which was covered in sores and bumps. We brought him to the clinic and advised him to check his HIV status. The volunteers have visited him twice during the month bringing him paracetemol, bandages, and non-stick dressings.    

Other projects

The month started off with our International Women's Day event, which was a great success. The community is still buzzing from the engaging speakers, poetry, dancing and music that filled the afternoon. We also held one more THAF shop this month, which raised over R700. 

March is an important month for our garden, as many of the crops we'll be giving out later in the year are advised to be planted during this month. As a result, the volunteers were busy planting carrots at the AMREF garden followed by beetroot, onions, and spinach. Beans which were planted previously have been growing steadily over the month. 

Great progress has also been made at our Support Group Garden in Ezwenelisha. The members have been taking turns helping to till the land, fertilize and plant carrots, onion, beetroot and spinach. We're excited to continue the garden in the coming months and plan to make gardening part of our weekly meeting at the Lifeline building. 

The container has been worked on throughout the month, and it's looking better than ever! We are proud to say that all the boxes have been looked through, the books have been unpacked, sorted and shelved. The volunteers even spent two days at the end of March building and painting bookends that will be placed in the container, as we're working towards decorating and organising the container over the coming weeks. 

The Khula clinic also approached us to provide our volunteers with some of our medical supplies they so desperately need each week. In the last week of March we received donations from the clinic that included bandages, antiseptic cream and gauze with much more to come, as they're going to add our list of needs to their order from Hlabisa Hospital. 

Khula Support Group also received a stall just outside of Khula in order to sell their crafts. We're hoping to refurbish the stall over the next couple of weeks to make it more comfortable for the ladies. 

Monthly Update: March I

March started with a bang (or should we say downpour?) as cyclone Irina ravaged St Lucia and the surrounding area, but that did not dampen the volunteer’s spirits or enthusiasm. Read on to find out how some of our projects developed over the course of the month, and check back soon for more March updates.

Support Groups

Yoga at Khula Support Group!

During the course of this month many topics have been discussed at both support groups with the members eager to learn and share. The members of both Khula and Ezwenelisha learned about the side effects of ARVs, becoming pregnant while being HIV+, TB, and why it is important to adhere to an antibiotic regime. Patient’s rights were also introduced and discussed at both support groups. All the members learned about the different questions that they had the right to ask their doctors and learned that they can take a more active role in their health care experience.

We also received good and bad news at Ezwenelisha Support Group. Busi, a regular attendee of the support group, has moved away from Ezwenelisha and out of her boyfriend’s house. Although we are sad to see her go, she was the victim of much domestic violence and we are happy she is now safer and happier. We also received great news that Gogo Joyce has been approved for government housing. Gogo Togo, a new member of the group who had all of her possessions stolen also received some new clothes bought specially for her from Mtuba. The group’s garden is well underway and has even been expanded, with Gogo Togo and Gogo Joyce eager to help with the farming. 

Although the numbers for our Khula Support Group have dwindled, we're happy to report that it is mostly because our group's members have found employment in the community. We're going to work on promoting the group more next month to increase the attendance.

Afterschool Club

Both Khula and Ezwenelisha Afterschool Clubs have been a blast during the month of March. Intense football battles have taken place with the children and volunteers enjoying themselves. At Khula the children have been having jump rope competitions and showing off their artistic talents in sidewalk chalk drawing. Meanwhile at Ezwenelisha the typing lessons have been progressing at a steady pace. 

Mid-month there was a little setback with the lessons as they seemed to be too difficult for the learners, who were getting frustrated. However, we're hoping to reassess upcoming lessons after the Easter break to help the learners better understand where their fingers should be while typing. 

Both Afterschool Clubs participated in the “We Speak in Art” partnership with Parsons School this month. The children enjoyed expressing themselves while exploring the medium of paint. The resulting paintings were stunning and we are excited to have the paintings exhibited in New York City in the coming months.

Creche

Community volunteer Emma playing
during Simunye Creche's break time.

March was bittersweet because we finished our two-month commitments at both the Impumelelo and Malibongwe Creches. It was also decided between Shwele and the teachers at Dukuduku creche that we would continue on to other creches who are more in need of extra attention before returning for our second month with their learners. However, we started working at Simunye and Khula Nomithiya creches with our new community volunteers during the month of March. 

However, before leaving Impumeleo we were able to teach the children about healthy and unhealthy foods, wild animals, different modes of transport, and family members. The children enjoyed making sounds and motions for the different animals. 

The volunteers enjoyed the first week at both Simunye and Khula Nomithiya Creches before Holiday Club started. In one week the learners are Simunye have showed progress in color recognition and parts of the body. The volunteers all remarked at how involved Simunye's principal is with the children, always eager to learn new methods of teaching from them. Meanwhile at Khula Nomithiya the Grade R children have enjoyed learning about wild and farm animals and getting some extra attention from the volunteers while they're learning. We are eager to resume teaching after Holiday Club ends in early April and are well on our way to completing two-month commitments at each creche in Khula. 

HIV Education

It has been a busy month for HIV education. During the month of March we were able to have two sessions of HIV education at the primary school. One session had 10 students while the other had nine. Of the 19 students that took the course and test 17 passed. 

"I will really miss my AMAZING HIV Education students at the primary school - they were all absolutely amazing and I really will miss them all." 

- Michelle, Community Volunteer - March 2012

As for the adult HIV course it has also been a successful month.  The volunteers and Shwele were able to hold a course at Reef and Dune for the women from the fruit market. We have also held other courses in Khula this month. Twelve women took the test this month and all twelve passed.