 |
 |
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||||
|
|
HIV PREVENTION EDUCATION The Medical Male Circumcision Centre (MMC) that falls under the District Department of Health (DoH) has been very productive. The program invites the staff from MMC to come and give motivational and educational talks to encourage male learners to get circumcised as part of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy. The third quarter shows a significant increase in the number of male learners willing to be circumcised. In the second quarter, 48 OVC learners were circumcised while in the third quarter 163 OVC learners were circumcised. This could be attributed to demystifying the local myths and misconceptions of male circumcision. A small survey that was conducted in March by the Medical Male Circumcision Centre in three of the May'khethele high schools to find out about the factors that may hinder the boys from being circumcised revealed that the majority of them (72%) feared complications after the surgery such as bleeding, pain and delayed healing. They also indicated lack of transport to get them back to their homes after the surgery since they could not walk properly. The staff of the local clinic have since addressed these misconceptions through correct messaging about male circumcision and this could be the reason why the number of those who have expressed willingness to be circumcised is going up.
The project identified a family with 29 children living under the supervision of one grandmother. The family survived with only the grandmother’s grant. This family are all squashed together in a little mud room. The case was so sad and heartbreaking, that May’khethele had to get the government departments to intervene. The Social Development Department took the case. We then had to identify a temporary place for this family. One of the local businessmen offered his B&B to accommodate the family for 4 months. The Midlands Taxi Association offered to provide food parcels worth R1000 for 12 months to the family. This case is taking longer than hoped for as Home Affairs are first processing the children’s application for birth certificates. Thereafter, Social Development will work on the case of all the children in this family. May’khethele Outreach team worked very hard on this case, networking with various business owners who are supporting this family and giving them a sense of hope.
SUPPORT ENABLES GIRL TO LIVE POSITIVELY A young girl doing grade 11 approached one of the educators and told her about her rape encounter. She was raped by her neighbour. She reported the incident to her family but her family did not believe her and left with no option but to be silent about it. By keeping this secret bottled up, it started to affect her academic performance. She needed to tell someone who would believe her, so she decided to disclose it to the teacher. The teacher then referred the case to May’khethele facilitator. The facilitator contacted Lifeline and set up a counseling session for this young girl. The counseling continued and the learner decided to do an HIV test and discovered that she is HIV positive. Support was given to this young girl to help her regain her self worth and self-acceptance. She attended a Support Group at Lifeline and continued to receive counseling. She is now stronger and is able to talk about what has happened to her. She is also such an encouragement to others. Her CD4cell count is still high and she is living a positive life.
WHEN THE TRUTH SEEMS TO HARD TO LIVE WITH Pam is a 15 year old girl who is doing grade 9 at Umthoqotho High School. Pam wrote a letter to the social worker, requesting to talk to her immediately. The social worker conducted a school visit to talk to Pam. During the interview Pam told the social worker that she does not know her father and her family members do not want to tell her the truth. She said that the neighbors told her that her biological father is her aunt’s husband. This truth disturbed her in such a way that she could not concentrate on her school work. During the counseling session with the social worker, Pam told her that she has been taking different medical tablets the whole of last year. She said every three days she takes about 30 tablets as an attempt to commit suicide. She steals her grandmother’s pills. On discovering that the girl was suicidal, the social worker conducted a home visit to resolve the matter of the father’s identity. We found her grandmother and uncle at home and we told them about Pam’s concern. The discussion went on about two hours. At the end they told her who her father is. It was shocking for them to discover that Pam has been taking tablets. The grandmother said Pam would sometimes sleep for two days but it did not alarm her. She thought Pam was just being lazy. After resolving that matter at home, the social worker made an appointment for them (Pam and her family) to attend sessions at FAMSA. Unfortunately they never attended. However, the social worker had weekly sessions with Pam at school to monitor her behavior. Overall, Pam seems to be coping well.
MOTIVATION IS KEY Lungile is from KwaDindi. She lives in a family of 20 and none of them is employed. She was doing Grade 8 at Mlungisi High School in 2009 and failed her grade. Since she failed her grade and her family did not have money for her to continue at school, Lungile decided to stay away from school. We realized that Lungile has a better future but her family situation holds her back and she is also beginning to lack hope. We arranged a counseling session with one of our facilitators from the Outreach Team. After the counseling sessions, Lungile agreed to go back to school and continue with her studies. We arranged a meeting with the Principal of the school and the class teacher to accommodate her back at school. They agreed to take her back and on the 9th of February 2010 Londiwe started her school again.
HELP COMES WHEN YOU SPEAK OUT A young girl in Grade 10 approached and confided in one of our facilitators that her bladder is paining. The facilitator acted swiftly and arranged and accompanied her to the clinic the following day. The examination proved that the problem is serious and she was then transferred to the hospital.
YOUNG GIRL CARRYING A HEAVY HEART There is a young girl aged 16 who is in Grade 9 and looks after her younger brother who is in primary school and on ARV’s. Her parents were brutally killed in her presence and she had never healed from the traumatic ordeal she witnessed. As a result of her inner turmoil, she performed poorly in her school work. May’khethele intervened by organizing the following:
SEEK COUNSELLING Nolwazi from Mthoqotho High School attempted to committee suicide several times because of her family matters that seemed too much for her to bear. When she tried to confront her family, they were not willing to empathize with her. May’khethele intervened when her last suicide attempt failed. The social worker conducted individual counseling with Nolwazi to get clarity of her feelings and situation. Thereafter the social worker conducted family counseling to resolve the matters that caused such pain and despair for Nolwazi. They came up with a way forward. During the counseling sessions, Nolwazi mentioned that she often had the feeling of committing suicide, therefore further counseling is been offered in this case.
HELPING FAMILIES APPLY FOR GRANTS The school facilitator referred the matter to the Outreach Team. The team assisted the aunt and accompanied her to SASSA for Foster Care Grant application which is currently in process.
TRACING FAMILY MEMBERS A young boy from Mzamweni High School lost his parents a long time ago. He was living with a community member who was not related to him. There were cases of abuse by the person who is looking after him. The Outreach Team traced his aunt and found her in KwaMafunze community. After 2 visits to the aunt, the boy was removed from the custody of the community member and placed at his aunt’s place. He then had to change schools from Emzamweni to Gobindlovu. This was not a difficult process as we have the project running in both schools. Gobindlovu accepted the boy and he is staying with his relative and going to a nearby school
Thabang a grade 9 learner at Emzamweni High School, lost his parents and uncle whom he lived with to the HIV/AIDS virus. A woman in the community illegally adopted him but the other family members did not accept him. Thabang’s friend then offered him a place to stay at his home. The family did not dispute that, but they wanted Thabang to provide his own food or make financial contribution. This left Thabang hopeless and helpless. When this case was reported to the May’khethele Outreach Team they intervened and tried to get the Social Workers to assist. Due to Thabang’s age, The Department of Welfare were unable to find him a place of safety. The Outreach Team searched for Thabang’s relatives and finally found a cousin who is willing to adopt Thabang. As the adoption process takes time, the Outreach Team found Thabang a temporary place of shelter until December 2009. Thabang is able to go to school and educators are providing lunch and transport everyday. Before the matter was attended, he used to be a very reserved learner who isolated himself from others. Lately he seems to be confident and outspoken as a leader. fin.
A 16 years old girl, who is doing grade 8 with a 2year old baby, stays with a nonrelated grandmother. The linkage teacher referred her case to the facilitator. She disclosed her HIV status to the facilitator, and she is without parents. We referred her to Lifeline for further counseling so as to give emotional support, and to check her CD4 count. It has been a struggle for her to apply for Identity document. She does not even have required documents such as death certificates for her parents. Outreach team did further intervention concerning the ID application. Her case was taken to the social workers and the application was successfully done. She is continuously receiving assistance from the project with food, school uniform and clothing for the baby. |
 |
||||||||||||
