Category Archives: ThembaCare
Thembacare Grabouw
One of the projects that we visited in February 2004 was ThembaCare – a hospice for HIV infected babies in Cape Town. ThembaCare continues to provide an excellent service and also operates within local communities in Cape Town. April 2006 saw ThembaCare open the doors of a new care centre in Grabouw (about 10 miles [...]
Making Connections
Having ‘graduated’ from our HIV/AIDS training school just before Christmas we have been busy connecting with anyone who is involved in the two informal communities of Nomzamo and Lwandle. This has included meeting with Helderberg AIDS Centre (who staff the hospital and clinics with personnel for VCT – voluntary counselling and testing) and the Helderberg [...]
The Graduates
Our three-month HIV/AIDS training course included modules on a variety of things. These included the biological aspects of HIV/AIDS, transmission and prevention, nutrition, the geographical spread of the disease, cultural practices that have an impact (very interesting!), addictions and counselling, play therapy, emotional development, and pre and post-test counselling and healing.
As part of the course [...]
Educating Rita
During the last week of October we had our first visitor from the UK. Our friend Rita came over to check that we were still behaving!
We were able to take her to a school and spend some time with the Mama’s looking after the children. Later that week we managed a trip up Table Mountain, [...]
A busy couple of months
The following week we visited ThembaCare with one of the other Mums of Rebecca’s classmates, Nicole Gilbert. It was great to be able to introduce her to some of the children.
We have also made contact with a couple that run a project called ‘Agape’ based in Grabouw. What they have been able to achieve over [...]
Visiting Austin and Anikwe
Finally we met Austin’s mum, Nolubabalo, and were invited in. The whole shack was approx 4m x 4m and was divided into a bedroom and a lounge.
There was no electricity or running water or toilet. Instead, these are provided as a ‘community block’ which everyone shares. A full carcass of a goat (or something similar) [...]
Sepe and Sindiswa are reunited
We were able to take three year old Sepe who has lived at ThembaCare for most of his life to visit his mum, Sindiswa.
She is in the Brarvels Kloof hospital in Worcester (about 80 miles away) suffering with AIDS and TB. She is slowly recovering from TB but will be in hospital for another 2 [...]
Walking through Wallacedene
On Friday 27th we went out with Kevin, one of the community nurses at ThembaCare. We travelled to a township called Wallacedene to visit a little boy called Austin.We had to leave our vehicle on the outskirts of the township, having asked a lady washing clothes in a tub to watch the car.
We headed in [...]
Gifts for Grabouw
The following week we went out for the day with Vicky Hinrichsen from ThembaCare to visit a township a few miles away from Somerset West called Grabouw.The drive there gave us some fantastic views from the top of Sir Lowry’s Pass as we went over the mountains.
Grabouw is a much more remote area and does [...]
