Bloekombos

Sponsorships:
ACE Entertainment GmbH

Sithembile E Shebi (HOPE Community Health Worker)

Sithembile was born in the province of KwaZulu Natal in an area called Mthwalume.  The eldest in her family, Sithembile learned to be responsible and disciplined from an early age.  After High School, she completed training in Home Based Care and gained experience in this field of health care.  Combining her interest in youth and her athletic ability, Sithembile volunteered with LoveLife where she took an active role in schools as a facilitator and out of school as a Netball Coach.  As a HOPE Community Health Worker, Sithembile can draw on her home care background and awareness of HIV and AIDS.  Sithembile adds two anonymous mottos that guide her life:

What you can imagine, you can be

&

Never say “Why Me” always say “Why Not Me”

Bloekombos Clinic

The clinic in Bloekombos is a city clinic built in 1997 with a total of 8 nursing sisters handling about 340 clients per day (of which 180 are TB clients).  Nurses and volunteers work hard in Bloekombos and are sometimes forced to turn away clients that arrive late in the day due to a lack of time, space, and nursing staff.  The most common illnesses in the area are TB, HIV, Aids and malnourished children and babies.  Many babies critically ill from malnourishment or sickness are treated in the clinic.  The rate of teenage pregnancy in the area is high and many mothers are HIV positive.  In the clinic, about 400 people are tested for HIV in a month, and anywhere from 100-200 of them are positive. 

Men tend to rarely come to the clinic, but groups such as HOPE Association are working hand in hand with traditional healers (sangomas) to motivate men to come in for treatment.  The men often go to the sangoma for herbs and holistic healing.  The  sangoma will work from that setting to refer the client to the clinic to be tested for HIV, Aids and TB, as well as talk with the client about prevention of HIV.

Bloekombos Community

Existing since 1986, Bloekombos used to consist only of shacks with no toilets, running water or electricity. Now there is government housing as well as shacks with around 88% living in government housing and only 9% in informal shacks.  Despite the improvement in housing, a 66% unemployment rate out of the economically active total population of a total of 8,975 exists.  Approximately 90% of people living in Bloekombos have an annual household income of only R0 – 19,200.  Most of the people in the community traveled from the Eastern Cape and many are illiterate.  However, the 4 schools in Bloekombos are full and have programs that encourage learners to stay in school and these efforts appear to be producing results.  While some students drop out of school due to teenage pregnancy, there is a relatively low drop out rate in the area. Despite all its hardships, crime seem to be decreasing slowly and according to Melikhaya, “It’s a great community to live in.”

Statistics: City of Cape Town Census 2001 at http://www.capetown.gov.za/censusinfo/Census2001

Sithembile

the soup kitchen