Paarl and Mbekweni

Thelma Zungula (HOPE Community Health Worker)
Sheila Samuels (HOPE Community Health Worker)

Thelma Zungula, born in the Eastern Cape, joined HOPE Association 2003 in order to work in her community, hoping to bring a positive change.  Speaking Xhosa, Afrikaans, and English, she has training in home-based care, first aid, and community gardening.   Prior to working with HOPE Association, she was with Caring Network performing home-based care and coordinating TB support.  In the clinic, Thelma performs home visits for HIV positive clients including missed appointments and treatment adherence.   Aside from her work in the clinic, Thelma visits the homes of clients in her own time to ensure all their needs are met.  She is part of the Paarl Peace Committee, which meets on Tuesday-Thursday evenings, and she leads an HIV positive children’s support group every Saturday.  Well known and respected, she often does awareness and prevention talks in the community. Working for HOPE Association, she has received valuable experience in the medical field and has been able to help the community as well as her extended family with her income. 

Sheila Samuels, born in Paarl, has worked with HOPE Association since 2005.  Her previous experience includes counseling for Agape, an NGO focusing on HIV issues and other experience and training in home-based care, HIV and Aids awareness, breastfeeding, management, TB, and first aid.   Sheila joined HOPE Association in order to be able to do more in the field of HIV and Aids.   She has She also trains others about HIV & AIDS.  In the clinic, she works with sick children, does preparatory work for the nurses and works as a medication and adherence counselor for HIV positive clients on ARVs.  After her day in the clinic, Sheila also performs home visits on her own time, making sure that sick clients are taken care of.  She is also busy in the church working to organize a youth class in which she will explain about the use of condoms and give awareness and prevention talks about HIV, Aids and TB. The two health workers form a strong team: Thelma works with Xhosa speaking people, and Sheila works with the Afrikaans speakers.

TC Newman Clinic

Specializing in pediatrics (but also handling adult clients), the TC Newman clinic handles about 150-225 clients per day with people waiting 1-2 hours if they arrive at the clinic around 7 am, and up to 3-4 hours if they arrive anytime after 9 am.  There are 3 nursing sisters, 2 staff nurses, 2 community health workers and a full-time doctor.  The most common illnesses in the area are HIV, Aids, TB, and asthma.  On average 50-100 children are tested for HIV/month with a high positive rate and the majority of the mothers of these children are teenagers themselves.  Other NGOs working in the clinic are Agape, Caring Network, Hospice, ARC, Zemstar, Mbekeeni Community Workers, CWT (Catholic Welfare Development) and ADP (World Vision).

Paarl Community

Paarl is the third oldest European settlement in South Africa with a population of approximately 108,000. Meaning “Pearl” in Dutch, it is the largest town in the Cape Winelands.  Generally, it is a wealthy and well-kept area.   However, on the outskirts of Paarl, there are the poorer communities served by TC Newman clinic.  These areas suffer from massive unemployment, high rates of HIV and Aids, orphans are common and alcohol abuse is high.  Many government houses and shacks are in the area, many with no running water.  On a whole the schools in Paarl report a low drop out rate, but many teenage girls are leaving school due to pregnancy and ignorance about HIV and Aids contributes to the high number of HIV positive teenage mothers.

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

instructions

Sheila in the vegetable garden

Thelma (right) more traditonal