Fond farewells and a great time was had by all!

On the morning of the Tshepo festival  the health team went to say farewell to the clinic staff. They were very appreciative of our visit and have extended an invitation to return next year. We thanked them for their support and for their honesty. In addition, we explained that we would be writing an update to the report that we produced last year and that we would forward it to their Manager in the hope that she will share this with them. Our parting gift to them was a Christmas card and a bumper tin of biscuits!

We leave the clinic in the knowledge that although there has not been dramatic change since last year, there have been some small improvements and our key message to the Thoughtful Path is that it is vital that the relationship that we have initiated is sustained in 2013. Our hope is that by doing so, there will be successful outcomes for both parties, but ultimately that the people of Munsieville will enjoy better health.

The Safety team said there farewells too to those who had supported our home visits. We all provided feedback to Project Hope on the key areas of development that they may wish to consider going forward.

As regards to the Tshepo festival- Wow!

Just under 2,000 children entered the Munsieville stadium for the 3^rd annual Tshepo Fesival. Some of the children got there up to 2 hours earlier so that they could get into the stadium first. Anyone who has organised any festival for children knows how difficult it is to pull these off! However with Project Hope staff, GSK Volunteers and an army of community support staff the event was a resounding success and was deemed to be the most successful yet.

There were many different events for the children to sing, dance and play musical instruments. The purpose of the festival was to provide a Christmas party for the children and the main theme was to promote health and safety in the home. The EHS team delivered a number of activities and displays which proved to be a hit with the children.

One of the really rewarding moments was being able to partner with the West Rand Disaster Planning unit. In joining up forces with the EHS team we combined our forces to deliver an enjoyable and educational experience for the children.

The health team focussed on paraffin ingestion and burns by using a doll who had previously been loaned by a local crèche and expertly repaired by our own seamstress Nicola! The safety team focussed on general aspects of paraffin safety and we got some great interaction with the children who were hungry to learn more on how they can provide a safer home for themselves.

There was lots of special moments for all the team but the one memory we all have is those lovely smiling faces of the children!

Arif, Nicola, Stacy, Robert, Duncan Bob and Veronica

A Case of Mistaken Identity



Today is the penultimate day in Munsieville. The health and safety team presented games and materials for the forthcoming Tshepo festival. These games consisted of ‘Pass the paraffin’, Spot the hazard’ and ‘Stop, drop and roll’. This is a game developed around a rap devised by our own Bob Dillin. Here it is…..’’Don’t run, scream and burn…..just stop, drop and roll….’. This is based on the key evacuation message from the Paraffin Safety Association but with cool moves!

The team also visited 13 creche facilities to evaluate the health and safety improvements from last year's visit whilst delivering face painting materials. This created great excitement among the children as face painting is loved by all in the community.

Those following our blog will have read about the humanitarian mission to provide a bed for a lovely lady whose name is Happiness. This was delivered today by Bob and Robert and was greeted by much warm grateful emotion. This was expressed by Happiness as the best Christmas present ever!

One light hearted event which occurred recently was a case of mistaken identity. This was a result of mixing up the names of the various volunteers here in Munsieville. Tidimalo and Buitomelo whose names sound similar when spoken quickly (especially Bob), resulted in the wrong person being collected for a meeting. Poor Tidimalo was unexpectedly collected by Bob and Arif instead of Buitomelo and both were left quite perplexed although were too polite to make a fuss. Bob did apologise and all is forgiven!  

On Wednesday the health team visited The Hope Centre, run by the USA branch of Project Hope, which covers the two communities of townships of Zandspruit and Cosmo City which includes both formal and informal structures.  The clinic, which opened fully three months ago, runs weight, blood sugar and blood pressure screening from a gazebo which is moved to a different area three times a week.  Those with signs of diabetes or hypertension are then referred to the clinic. The clinic is very organised and covers a catchment area of 200,000 people.  There are plans to expand the work to cover retinopathy screening and also for teams of local student nurses to gain experience by screening in the inhabitant’s homes.

In the afternoon the health team visited the Hands of Compassion health clinic in the countryside which is ran by one of the nurses who worked at the Munsieville clinic last year.  She was full of energy, enthusiasm and ideas and she enjoyed the benefits of having more space for the patients including segregated areas to reduce the spread of infection between patients.

The evening, we all enjoyed visiting the Lesedi Cultural Experience. This involved the opportunity to buy local crafts and then be taken by a ‘tribal warrior’ around Zulu, Basotho, Pedi and Xhosa mock villages.  As well as leaning some words and expressions from the local languages we were treated to a fantastic display of dancing and we joined in, before enjoying a meal of crocodile and ostrich casseroles!

Nicola and Duncan



Paraffin Safety Kit and the ‘Jar of Hope’

 It is now the start of our second week in Munsieville and the focus has shifted to completing our objectives for the clinic, shack safety and preparing for the health and safety event at the Tshepo festival. There was an early meeting with the Project Hope team at the Children’s Embassy and the main point of discussion focussed on how we can empower the community to make their homes safer. The idea of a home safety kit was thrashed out and the opportunity to devise a community co-operative which would allow people to save for paraffin stoves and other key equipment to make their homes safer.

Robert and Veronica went to purchase some locally available equipment with Imelda, one of the Health Promotion staff, who is now working with Project Hope. After plenty of bartering we managed to obtain all the key equipment which we consider to be best practice. Imelda gave a great demonstration on how to operate the safer type of paraffin stove, compared to the existing dangerous stoves, which are used today. These currently pose a high risk of fires and injuries to the people in the community.

The safer paraffin stove on the left and the current unsafe stove that are widely used currently.

In the meantime, Duncan and Bob were touring the community to deliver the key health and safety messages. They revisited a lovely elderly lady called Happiness, who the team had met a few days before. This poor lady had her bed stolen while she was moving to a safer area from the flooding. On hearing the sad plight of her having to sleep on the floor, the team sprung into action. After a few local discussions, the team had identified a bed for her after a kind donation by Betty, the Project Hope Operations Director. Our humanitarian mission will hopefully be completed tomorrow much to the delight of the team.

While working in the community we have been demonstrating the safe candle device and thanks to Duncan’s artistic talents we have made this a much more attractive feature. We even think this should be a new Project Hope campaign called the ‘Jar of Hope’.

As clinic activities continue, it is apparent that the Munsieville clinicians provide very good clinical care, adhering to evidence based guidelines. Arif, Nicola, and Stacy met with Hazel, the clinical manager, on how to build bridges with The Thoughtful Path once we depart.

In the afternoon the whole team gathered to have the first full meeting, to plan for the Tshepo festival. A full room of volunteers and Project Hope staff had a healthy debate on what festival activities would involve. The EHS team are co-leading a health and safety event which  will cover the key risks of paraffin ingestion, fire and burns, by holding interactive and engaging activities with the children.

Stacy and Robert

Preparing for the Children’s Festival and the Lucky Escape of the Wildebeest

The Health Team continued working alongside the clinic staff in the busy TB Clinic. Tuberculosis and HIV are very common amongst the community and the health clinic is supported by volunteer groups who visit homes to check on the taking of medication. To us, this may seem radical but it is important to improve the compliance of medication taking, in order to reduce the spread of these conditions.

We noticed whilst in the clinic that the staff are very stretched, and are also challenged with tracking medical histories due to the ever increasing population diversity.

Midday saw both teams meet with the Children’s Embassy Youth and Health Promotion staff to plan the forthcoming Children’s Festival next Thursday. The GSK team were there providing support and encouragement, and were very impressed with the leadership roles played by the youth team in particular. The maturity and the way in which the young people ran the meeting were terrific to see. The main themes coming forward were, treatment of burns and poisoning through ingestion for the health team, and exiting from a burning shack, assembling a safe candle in a jar, and identification of hazardous objects in the home for the safety team.

After  a very busy and hot week the team enjoyed a little relaxation by visiting a local game reserve, and after much patient waiting, were very exited to see a lioness in the distance, spot and then chase a very worried Blue Wildebeest, who escaped by a whisker!  According to our guide this is a sight that the majority of visitors to the park will never see. 

Nicola & Duncan



Progressing Our Work & Local Activism

Munsieville Primary Health Care Centre

Considering the very cramped space, manual filing system, and stretched clinical resources, everyone at the Munsieville Primary Health Care Centre receives adequate medical care. The clinic serves approximately 200 patients per day.  We are building trust with the nurses and administrative staff. There are four separate clinics:   Chronic conditions (including HIV, TB, diabetes and hypertension), a child wellness clinic, a prenatal clinic and a walk- in/minor illness clinic.  The nurses function much like nurse practitioners and have a very good rapport with the patients.

Shack Safety

In addition to the clinic, we have all been enlightened to see the ingenuity and creativity by the people of Munsieville. The majority of homes in Munsieville have no electricity and there are no plans to install it in near future.  Every day we come upon clever use of materials.  One item of note we have encountered was a small, well placed solar panel, safely wired to a six volt battery, wired to a twelve volt battery, wired into their home and connected to a small stereo so that they are able to enjoy the soft music that most of us take for granted.  

We acted as consultants for the young community ambassadors who delivered home safety messages to each household in their own language.  

16 Days of Activism

Project Hope UK and the Thoughtful Path participated and helped organize a march to support 16 days of activism to protest violence against women and children across South Africa. The activism began today and will continue through the next 15 days.  The march was full of energy it highlighted the issues which are sadly part of everyday life in the informal settlements of South Africa. We would like to have shown you the enthusiam and fabulous dancing of the local youth, however unfortunately the video clip is too big to attach.

Stacy Tammi & Bob Dillin

An early sunrise wakes up some members of the team!

An early sunrise wakes up some members of the team!  The first day’s assignment is waiting at the ‘Childrens’ Embassy’.

We started with a friendly and productive meeting scheduled with the local Munsieville councillors who unfortunately were not able to attend but kindly sent their representatives.

Following this we taken by Daphne Van to visit ‘Mama Gloria’ (Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s sister who has lived is born and lived her whole life in Munsieville).  The visit was very enjoyable and Arif (got lucky) as Mama Gloria requested that he measure her blood pressure!

During the afternoon, we spent some time at the Childrens’ Embassy where we were party to a meeting that was going on between some of the youth volunteers who were discussing the upcoming Tshepo festival.  We were very impressed when we heard ‘Mighty Joe’ say ‘listening is not a talent, listening is a skill’.

Later that afternoon, we were taken on a tour of the surrounding areas of Mshengeville, where the whole population live in shacks. It was very poignant and emotive as we walked around and saw peoples’ living conditions. However, there hope when we were shown a ‘better’ hut that was built recently to replace a family’s  shack which burnt down a few months ago, following an arson attack. It was good to see how the community can pull together and help each other.

Today, we started assignments properly. The Safety team were accompanying the trained local Home Safety Volunteers to train the shack households about the most important paraffin hazards (and how to avoid them). The team were very impressed at the Volunteers’ skills in communicating, understanding the issue, getting the message across and engaging the families.

The Health team visited the Munsieville Primary Health care clinic for the first time and were welcomed. The day was spent talking to key staff members and sitting in clinics to better understand the issues that they are currently dealing with.

On a lighter note, something that made us laugh a lot, was that Robert (Manson) was mistaken for being a Mexican! Due no doubt due to his flamboyant moustache and ability to arch his eyebrow!

La nota graciosa  del dia, que nos hizo reir bastante, está relacionada con el extravagante bigote y la forma de arquer las cejas de Robert (Manson), algunos adolescentes de la comunidad pensaron que era mejicano.

Veronica & Arif J

Arrival and Planning in Munsieville

A warm welcome was beckoning from the Hamilton Guest House staff after an 11 hour flight for the UK and Spain team and 15 hours plus for our less fortunate US team.  

 After a few hours of recovery we took advantage at short notice invitation to a local gala dinner to support the Carigso community churches. The members of this community were extremely interested to hear the successes of the Thoughtful Path Project in Munsieville and we went along to share our story.

There was lots of singing and dancing with delicious local food. The whole team were swaying to the gospel beat and learning a few dance routines. The evening’s MC and Radio FM Rainbow announced to everyone that he was so impressed with everyone especially Veronica’s mastery of South African dancing!

There were a variety of speeches from local dignitaries with some valuable words of wisdom and strong and motivational messages relevant to the local community. One key message that stuck with us was ‘without gratitude there is no altitude’. This is a relevant reference to the EHS team in that we all need to be grateful for the simple things in life i order for us to grow and develop, particularly whilst here in Munsieville. A wonderful night was had by all and we met some wonderful and warm hearted people with lots of smiles all around. This was all happening against a back drop of torrential rain and a marquee that was slowly filing with water!

Daphne Van and Sarah Hatfield, the GSK Pulse volunteers have been particularly valuable in helping us to prepare the groundwork for our trip and brought us up to date on the progress made from last year’s visit. This really helped us to hit the ground running and make the best use of our time here. The key challenge for the team is that change can take longer here in South Africa than we are used to in GSK. The same rules apply in that we have to take this into consideration on this year's project i.e. T.I.A! (This is Africa). 

On the final evening of our first weekend, we were treated to a delightful children’s concert at one of the local churches in Randfontein. This local church has been a great supporter for Project Hope and it was great to be able to support one of their projects. Children of all ages gave a concert of recital, song and dance. A very different type of Nativity Play although lots of passion as ever. 

Jet lag over and planning well under way, we are set to head off to Munsieville for an 8am meeting with the local councillors and Project Hope staff.

Robert and Duncan