A partnership launched in late 2008 to part fund and support an initiative by a church in KwaZulu Natal to pioneer a Home Care service to HIV/Aids sufferers where over 60% of the population are HIV positive.

Embo where over 60% of people are HIV positive

In 2005, a Johannesburg church began a congregation in an area of KwaZulu Natal, called the Valley of a Thousand Hills.  Embo is a sprawling rural community of 62,000 people which suffers from one of the highest HIV positive rates in Africa at over 60%.

The Pastor of the church and his wife were from KwaZulu Natal with a deep understanding of its people and their problems.  As qualified  HIV testers, they had the insight and awareness as to how the church could meet the needs of this community.

The first project that the church undertook was to provide a crèche and orphanage facility.  As the church grew to around 500 members, so their vision was enlarged.

There are now 10 trained Home Care Givers, supervised by an experienced and qualified nursing sister.  The Care Givers visit HIV/Aids patients in their own homes.  Many clients will be on anti-retroviral treatment (ART) already but recent research has demonstrated that such patients do much better when they have an effective support system within their own home.

With many families living in denial or failing to understand the nature of the disease, these Care Givers are providing a vital service which has been welcomed and endorsed by the KwaZulu Natal Department of Health.  They monitor clients’ immune systems and drug regimes, advise on hygiene, diet and sexual health as well as keeping an eye on the impact on the wider family, especially the children.

In this Partnership with the founding church, MAI funds the stipend given to these volunteers to cover their travel costs and the items that they provide to the clients.  We are committed to funding 50% of the cost of a suitable vehicle which has been adapted as an ambulance to transport emergency cases to clinics (nearest is 20 kms)  or hospital (35 kms distant in Durban).

Each volunteer makes an average of 45 visits each month and may have up to 15 clients at any one time.

Watch the video of this fantastic work.  (With special thanks to Ladysmith Black Mambazo for permission to use two of their amazing songs!)

A typical client

The lady in the centre of this picture is a typical client receiving help through this project.  Her Care Giver is pictured on the right with the client's Granny lying on the bed.

"I cannot stop thanking Neane, my Care Giver" she says.  "I could not manage without her.  I am so thankful for the food parcels she brought."  (Without a good diet, the cleints are unable to take their drugs.)

Most of the time, she is being looked after by her Granny, who is herself in need of jhelp.  The Granny has no formal ID (a typical problem for carers in Embo) and so receives no State benefits to care for the woman and her two children (aged 10 and 7) whose father died in a motor bike accident some while ago.