Delft

Alice Daniels (HOPE Community Health Worker)

Alice Daniels was born in the Eastern Cape and has worked for HOPE Association since February 2004.  She applied to be a HOPE Community Health Worker because she is well known in her community and has experience in working with people.  With her desire to help the community, training in HIV & AIDS and language skills in both English and Afrikaans, she gives basic health and HIV & AIDS talks in the clinic, works with the PMTCT (Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission) program, performs HIV counseling, and in the school system brings awareness of HIV and Aids to youth.  After her workday, she does home visits in order to make sure the clients are doing well and have enough food.  On Saturdays, she is involved with HIV support groups, working to build the confidence of people that are positive.  Well known and respected in the community, she not only functions as a HOPE Community Health Worker, but also as a marriage officer and pastor.

Angela Abrahams (HOPE Community Health Worker)

Employed since August 2006, Angela Abrahams is the second HOPE Community Health Worker in Delft.  A volunteer in the clinic for two years, Angela was partnered with Alice Daniels in the clinic and is a welcome fit in the HOPE Cape Town family.  Her skills as a Xhosa speaker (plus English and Afrikaans), cross cultural understanding and sense of humour are highly prized in this busy and demanding clinic environment.  Angela is a “people person” with a special affinity for children and the elderly.  She has just completed the University of South Africa (UNISA) training course in HIV, AIDS and TB counselling and is already taking a more active role in the clinic and the community.  

Delft Clinic

The clinic in Delft is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week taking in about 350 clients per day.  One of the busiest clinics with a HOPE Community Health Worker, its 15 nursing sisters and 7-8 doctors primarily handle cases of TB, HIV, Aids, STIs, and sick children.  About 100 pregnant mothers are tested positive for HIV/month, most of them teenagers.  The PMTCT program works hard to ensure babies can grow up HIV negative.  Every day HIV positive clients come to the clinic to take their ARV’s (Anti Retroviral medication) and people with TB also take their treatment at the clinic.  In addition to HOPE Association is another NGO called Tikkun.

Delft Community

The Delft community is a large 75% colored, 25% Black African community that is split into two sections: Delft and Delft South. Many people in the community came from the Eastern and Western capes, others immigrated form Nigeria and Somalia.  There is a 44% unemployment rate out of the economically active total population of 24,000 plus and the majority of the people have yearly household income of R0 – 19,200 (58%), with 38% with R19,201 – 76,800 a year income.  Issues include violence, teen pregnancy, HIV, TB, lack of food and a large drug problem in the area with distribution through Shebeens and liquor stores. 

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

at work

Angela Abrahams

Alice