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It's not just every day that one can say, "I'm going to take a roadtrip to another country this weekend..." Since Swaziland is so close (about a 5-6 hour drive) to Refilwe, Meredith (another long-term US volunteer at Refilwe) and I decided to visit the land of royalty for some relaxation. We had a wonderful time and felt very refreshed and blessed as we came back to Refilwe. Some highlights included: sleeping in beehive huts (pictured above), a walk in Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary (which included zebras, impalas, wildebeasts, and crocs--all around us!), some mango milkshakes at Guava Cafe, great sunsets (I think we spent most of the sunrises in bed, to be honest!), and relaxing dinners overlooking sugarcane fields and beautiful gardens. God is good! And His creation speaks of that very clearly...
I thought I would take some time to talk about the actual "things" we give to the communities where we have home caregivers. We had a recent donation of vitamins from a short-term team from the US. We've rebottled them and plan to give them out to our sick clients, specifically those who have HIV or Tuberculosis. They will be helpful to balance out people's modest and inadequate diets while they are sick. The other photo shows some soup and supplement mixes that are part of our food parcels. The government is currently giving us money for 100 food parcels per month. This has food for four people to supplement their diets for one month. Orphans and vulnerable children are the focus of our distribution. We also give out blankets, clothing, Bibles in local languages, shoes, books, and seeds for gardens. Other items that are donated are also distributed through our home caregiver teams. It is great to meet people's immediate needs in these ways, but we continue to work with them to find long-term solutions and promote sustainability for them and their families.
A huge focus of the home care workers (HCWs) right now is establishing food gardens. The government wants to promote sustainability and not only fix problems temporarily. We have accessed seeds through Mayford (a local seed company just up the road from Refilwe) and are distributing them to the communities where we work. I went with the HCWs one day at Sunnyside to see the food gardens they have helped establish and the number was 28! These pictures were taken at Sunnyside. The top picture shows (from left) Ida and Ivonne, both HCWs with one of the community members and her garden. The bottom picture is one of the other food gardens in the same community. Although it is winter now, they are still able to grow some vegetables, including Spinach. We will continue to work at this project until 100% of the houses in the communities where we work have some type of food garden.
The Quarter Sandwich...I have heard about this since my arrival. And I have also heard of many versions of this sandwich. They have now started selling them at the Tuck Shop at Refilwe, so I decided to try one for lunch the other day. It is anything but healthy. I did find that it tasted quite nice, but indigestion generally follows. Basically, it gets its name because it is a quarter of a loaf of bread (white, unsliced). Then they dig out the inside and place archor (unripe mango slices in a vinegar/chili sauce), french fries, palony (which is a slice of pink fake meat, kind of like a type of salami), cheese, viennas (hot dog) and/or a Russian sausage. Add salt (yes, more salt!), vinegar, and chili sauce, put the lid back on and ta da! The Quarter Sandwich.
Recently, there was a filming crew at Refilwe to prepare a documentary of the programs and activities at this community project. This video is of the Refilwe choir, made up mostly of Refilwe children and some of the Mamas and other workers at Refilwe. There were shots of the school, people working in the nursery with the tree project and in the piggery, interviews with staff members, and multiple other clips. The documentary will air on a South African TV channel in June. It promises to increase awareness of what is happening at Refilwe and potentially gain support from more local businesses and churches. I managed to dodge the cameras, but thankfully, this singing always grabs the cameras' attention, and for obvious reasons!
VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) has been going on for four weeks now, each week in a different community where our home care workers are placed. These pictures are from our week at Malatjie. This informal settlement has over 4,000 people living in it. That's an incredible number to reach with education and health testing which includes blood glucose (for Diabetes), blood pressure, Tuberculosis screening/testing of sputum, weight, and HIV testing. We are starting the HIV testing this week because the kits have finally arrived. Also, we have been educating and testing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We are going to start working on Tuesdays and Saturdays this week to reach the large numbers in the communities who are working on weekdays. Continue to pray as we face challenges of language/translation, stigmas, and staff motivation and enthusiasm. The pictures above are of the community of Malatjie, Peggy and Zuzeka (home care workers) giving education to people before they decide to do testing, and Nombulelo (our auxilliary nurse, who has been quite a blessing in the process of VCT) preparing to start testing.
