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

EHS Team getting ready for our next trip

Our EHS team consisting of Arif Jiwany, Nicola Freeman, Stacy Tammi, Bob Dillin, Veronica Tovar-Careaga, Duncan Kerr and Robert Manson are making their final plans before travelling to Munsieville with Project Hope tomorrow. We are all excited and prepared for the trip as far as we can be, although we will all need to flexible in providing the necessary support when we are down there.
We will be working closely with Project Hope and the GSK Pulse Volunteers to build on the work that was started last year. The key objectives this year for us are;

1.     Health Clinic

·           Review clinic progress and achievements since last year’s GSK visit.

·           Act as liaison, seek agreement and help plan children’s well being activities being  relocated to the ‘Children’s Embassy’.

·           Provide consultancy for establishment of a Health Outpost clinic.

2.     Shack Safety

·         Review shack safety progress and achievements since last year’s GSK visit.

·         Work in partners hip with GSK Pulse volunteer to support shack safety program for 2012.

·         Provide consultancy for fire prevention and home safety within Munsieville community.

3.     Tschepo Festival

·           Support the organization of the 2012 festival in partnership with Project Hope and GSK Pulse volunteers.

·           Participate and run a stall with health promotional information, including Shack Safety principles.

Here is hoping for a great trip and we will posting blogs on a regular basis so our colleagues and friends back home can see what we are up to. Please feel free to send us any comments and words of encouragement as your help and support back home will be much appreciated.

Heavy rains but great spirits!

(Delayed Blog entry from last Friday)

The heavy rains that commenced on Thursday, disrupting both electrical power and internet access, did not dampen the spirits of our group as we provided our final reports and recommendations to the various community leaders. The creche team met with members of the Early Childhood Development team and provided the results of our work over the past two weeks, including what we observed to be current best practices in place within various crèche facilities and recommendations for both short and long term planning that will support the ongoing development of the children of Munsieville. Our Paraffin safety and data collection reports were finalized as we look forward to a continued partnership with the Paraffin Safety Association. We have also devised and left for Munsieville a Paraffin safety tip sheet – a simple reference which will increase awareness of the hazards and treatment relative to the use of Paraffin in the shacks. Four members of our team – Robert, Donna, Julia and Mary, had the great fortune to meet and chat with “Mama Gloria” – the sister of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. She was warm and welcoming and the conversation delightful.
As we will bid farewell to Munsieville on Saturday evening , we leave confident knowing that we have enacted the GSK mission by empowering the people of Munsieville to “do more, feel better and live longer.”

by Mary Bannan

Our last day!

(Delayed blog entry from last Friday!)

So its farewell from the Health Clinic Team!

Today was our last official day in the Munsiville clinic. Earlier in the week, we shared our findings and recommendations with the clinic managers and these were well received. The findings were subsequently shared with the rest of the Munsiville clinic staff and our impression is that they were appreciative of our feedback. Indeed as a result of our feedback we have already noticed some changes in the way the clinic operates and in staff behaviours.

As a sign of their appreciation, yesterday we were even presented with some gifts from the staff! (See picture below!) We were each given a pair of traditional African sandals, which we are very grateful for. These gifts are the perfect souvenir of the work that we have done in Munsiville and will be a great way of reminding us of our time here.

This morning we visited the clinic for the final time. As our parting gift, we obtained a white board, which we think will help improve 2-way communication between the managers and the staff. To ensure that the board would be used straight away, one of The Thoughtful Path volunteers kindly fixed the whiteboard on the common room wall meaning it is now ready for use. We also developed posters that have been placed throughout the clinic, the purposes of these are to help improve infection control and encourage behavioral change and better occupational health practices.

The rest of our day was spent compiling and completing our final report this includes a list of the accomplishments that we achieved during our visit.
Our hope is that the findings and recommendations of our report will be fully owned by the staff and managers of the Munsiville clinic and that most importantly that the ‘Bridge’ we have built with ‘The Thoughtful Path’ is built further and flourishes in the coming years.

Happy Feet

On our last day in the Munsieville clinic the staff presented the clinical team with a gift of beautiful handmade African shoes. We were moved by their warmth and generosity.

Friday!

Hello UK & US colleagues....the storm has knocked out internet access from Munsieville, we'll be posting more as soon as we can... Barbara and I have accompanied Alyson from the Pulse project to the GSK site office in South Africa and are posting from here. 
Happy Friday

Thursday in Munsieville: Storm and lights out!

Tim and Candy shifted this week from being part of the crèche/shack safety team to the assigned objective of focus on the health and safety of the staff and stakeholders of The Thoughtful Path.  First, we spent time observing and listening to understand key issues and challenges.   Next, we met with Paul Brookes, Director of The Thoughtful Path, and Betty Nkoana, Project Manager, to discuss feedback about our key observations.  We summarized recommendations for impacting the health of the TTP team .  Tim delivered a coaching session to increase awareness of sustainable good health and resilience practices.  Alyson Krucher, GSK Pulse Volunteer, held a leadership training workshop attended by Leadership Academy candidates,  House of  Young Ambassadors and other TTP stakeholders.  We prepared a presentation and delivered this as part of the leadership training agenda. We asked the leaders to be aware of their health practices as they influence the community.   Paul spoke to the group about the challenges of being a real leader.    We’ll be working tomorrow with a large crèche on fire drill training.  Barbara and Mary went to The Victim & Empowerment Center this morning, which is housed in the Police Office.  This is a community resource for children and adults who have suffered abuse.  Barbara and Mary shared immediate feedback and observations with the staff.  They reinforced the connection with the Children’s Embassy.  The Embassy function as a safe environment where children can come for support for any issues.    We all came back from the days activities to a big storm of lightening and rain which took out the power (and internet access for Thurs night and Friday morning).  We ended the day with a candlelight dinner with the great team of people who run the Sterkfontein Heritage Lodge where we are staying.
Tim Wighton and Candy Bertini

Day with "paraffin Joe" and best class creche

Today has been our last day visiting the crèches and the shacks as we are now focusing on writing up our findings and reports to present to Project Hope.

We have seen various standards of crèches and eye opening ways in which people live in the shacks of Munsieville.

The one thing we will take away is how welcoming and helpful the people have been.

We have found a real desire for those living in the shacks to improve the quality of their lives particularly in the way they have embraced the paraffin safety message that we have been delivered.

We have been so impressed by the volunteers associated with Project Hope who give their free time to act as guides and interpreters ensuring that our health  and safety messages have been accepted by everyone we spoke to.

We have had to work hard with those in the community who come from outside of South Africa particularly those from Mozambique. This meant we had to work on a different approach to  gain their trust and allow us into their homes to deliver these important messages.

Joe  Baleka  from the Paraffin Safety Association, joined us for our tour of the shacks and was really impressed    by the work the H&S team had undertaken and the way that we were delivering the key safety messages  about paraffin.  

No words needed.....

We will be joining Joe at the Children’s Embassy tomorrow at 1pm to deliver a paraffin safety presentation to the whole of Munsieville community where we will be doing demonstrations and providing information and resources to the community.

Robert’s role tomorrow is to drive around Munsieville with Star, our helper,  with a loud hailer to advertise this event  ( who said he needed a loud hailer!!!!)

The crèche team visited the best in example on how a crèche should work. This crèche really showed how to promote children’s health and well- being  and the team could really see the tremendous difference in the way the children responded. This crèche was a Government funded and we are hoping that this will be the first of many in this area.

Today we came across a simple practical means to make life safer; one is a candle in a mayonaise jar with sand which will give 30% more efficient candles and more energy and if tipped over the sand will extinguish the flame. The second one is the solar light bulb, Donna Lefevre already showed on this blog. Today Ernie and Johannes from Munsieville constructed the first prototype solar soda bottle light bulb with guidance from Scoop and Donna.

Safe candle

Solar soda bottle light bulb

Robert Manson & Barbara Graham

Today We Connected

Today the clinical team met with the clinic manager to review our observations and suggestions. We were concerned about how our suggestions would be perceived, but we were pleasantly surprised . We shared what we saw as strengths and opportunities for improvement. The suggestions appeared to be well received and we hope that some of our suggestions will be put into action. We focused on partnering with Project hope, patient and staff safety, and increased efficiency. Today we took
a big step towards improving the quality of the medical service the people of Munsieville receive.

Neighborhood Connections are Strengthened

Home Pariffin container unlabelled- common practice

Today is our 8th day. We began our day early with a group exercise class on the lawn led by Leroy a local fitness instructor . After breakfast we headed into Munsieville to meet our interpreters , Anna and Star.Accompanying us today are 2 special young adults ,Palesa and Articia ,students representing the Munsieville Youth Voice Journalism Academy. Palesa and Articia will be writing articles about our community visits. Star led Robert, Donna G. , Julia and Palesa to Mayibuye to visit and assess 2 creche daycares. Anna led Barbara, Mary and Articia to the Buffer area shacks to continue door to door pariffin safety education .We bring firsthand knowledge of the impressive kindness and dedication of our local volunteer interpreter guides as we work side to side with them. Our daycare facility assessments result in specific recommmendations paired with neighborhood face to face pariffin safety instruction assist this unique community in protecting their vunerable children .
The clinic team checked in with the clinic staff today before heading onto the HIV/AIDS rally run by the local taxi drivers association who have a union type role in the area. There were stalls from the health authority distributing health information, stickers and condoms to promote safety with HIV, testing and education around the stigma associated wiht HIV and TB. Their health education pamphlets were really informative. The stalls were complimented by other information around social help, debt and good parenting. Looks like Betty and Paul from Project Hope have linked up with a good resource for information resources for parents.
the taxi's started a convoy around the town with HIV counsellors waving and singing out of the windows and horns blowing - a great way to drum up interest around the township.
Then as is the usual way for Munsieville events, speeches to the crowd and VIPs, followed by prayer, song and dance and of course...........food - fried chicken and cabbage being cooked in huge coldron's over open fires stirred with the biggest wooden spoon I ever saw!
The key message is every day is world aids day

Jeanette Ryan

Standby we are making solar bulbs for shacks tomorrow....

VIRGIN BLOGGERS! - First Day of our Last Week:-(

Today the Creche team gathered to coordinate and finalise our health and safety initiative. This is primarily aimed at educating residents about the hazards associated with paraffin use in the domestic environment. The hope is that this will help mitigate the alarming number of children that are each year harmed by ingesting paraffin and also those who sustain burns through accidents.

Shack area in Munsieville

We have learnt that in at least 2 areas within Munsieville, paraffin is the main source of fuel for both cooking and lighting. In addition in all of the homes we visited today, the maintenance of appliances was appalling. None of the households had safety containers to transport and store the paraffin, all were using 2 litre soft drink plastic bottles! The resident's first aid knowledge was lacking also, for instance all when asked what to do if their child accidentally ingested paraffin, responded that they would give milk and induce vomiting. However this is not correct, in fact the correct action is to seek medical attention.

As a result we spent the rest of the afternoon developing a poster outlining key paraffin safety and first aid messages. These posters will be available to all the creches and homes in Munsieville, through the Childrens' Embassy.



Paraffin stove



We have also drafted a paraffin safety education leaflet. This if for the key stakeholders (The Thoughtful Path's local volunteers) who will be sustaining this initiative when we depart. This is being done with input from Joe from the Paraffin Safety Association. The plan is that in the medium term Joe will liase with The Thoughtful Path and external bodies to source bottles with proper safety caps that can be used solely for the purchase and use of paraffin.



Waiting room of the clinic

 The Clinic team today continued to provide support and gather information at the local medical clinic in Munsieville. We spent most of our time, shadowing various staff (including the visiting doctor, some of the nurses as well as the adminstrative and reception staff). The purpose of today was to gather further information on the current systems and to get a better understanding of what can be improved.

Overall our sense is that the Clinic operates well and provides quite good clinical care under very difficult circumstances. The key challenge are the constraints of space. The Clinic was built about 10 years ago, at that time the population of Munsieville was half of its current 30 000 and also the number of primary care services offerred were limited. However over the years, the population has almost doubled and the services delivered are now much wider. As a result the building no longer meets current medical needs, although a portacabin is expected, the staff have been waiting for it for 2 years and for now there is now ETA.



Jeanette working at the clinic



We are especially interested in looking at how the current Clinic systems and processes can be improved so that the work is more effectively managed and also so that the patients' experience is improved. As a result, we have identified a number of improvments and some solutions that we think could be adopted. Our next step is to meet with the Clinic's leadership team to feedback our findings and offer our assistance so that some 'quick wins' can be embedded.

Tomorrow, we are going to participate in a HIV prevention day which is being sponsored by the Taxi Drivers association for Munsieville. Our aim is to establish what health promotional activiites are happening locally and identify ways of better collaboration between the Munsiville clinic and its' neighbours.



Donna Graham & Arif Jiwany

Cultural experience

After a very busy and productive week, our educational and cultural weekend began with

a visit to the World Heritage “Cradle of Humankind” information centre where we were we toured the

world renowned Sterkfontein Caves. This is the site where the famous pre-human skull was discovered dating back 2.3 million years ago. After lunch we visited the Elephant Sanctuary where we learned about the elephant’s anatomy and then we had the opportunity to feed, take them for a walk and ride these magnificent animals. On the way home we drove over the Hartbeespoort Dam and finished the evening back at the Heritage  Lodge, where Bryn prepared a “Potjiekos”, traditional South African stew on an outdoor fire.

Today, Sunday, our guides for the weekend, Russell and Deon arranged a visit to Soweto (South West Township) including a look around the Regina Mundi, the church of the Black Madonna where the apartheid movement is said to have first begun. We then had a tour of the Credo Mutwa Cultural Village where a famous Zulu Shaman trains students. Next we went on to the Mandela House and Hector Pieterson Museum. We finished our journey home with a “Back to the 80’s sing-a-long” (Cat’s choir). Keep checking our blogs daily for an up-to-date report of what the team is doing in Munsieville!

Barbara Graham and Patti Penkunas

Laduuuma...!

Today, December 2, 2011, marked a milestone in Project Hope/UK history - the opening of the Munsieville Thoughtful Path's Children's Embassy, which triggered a real twinkle of hope in the eyes of the children and entire community this Christmas time.  We began the day assisting with final preparations and decorating of the embassy prior to welcoming esteemed guests and local dignataries for the opening ceremonies, where we were led in sprited African song and prayer.  The center was unveiled to the entusiastic delight of all who were present. Following the ceremony,  mayhem (a.k.a. disorganized chaos!) ensued as the annual Tshepo festival kicked off, where hundreds of stars that were made by students and GSK employees across the globe were displayed.  Hundreds of Munsieville children were treated to an action packed afternoon that included a bouncy castle, face painting, music and dance, a baloonist, and, the highlight of the afternoon, a visit from world renowned football (that's soccer for you US folks) player Lucas Radebe! Our own superstar goalies, Robert Manson and Arif Jiwany, defended the goal well against the talented and extremely excitable children.  A visiting Stripey demonstrated extraordinary skill as he tested and overcame the prowess of our gsk goalies.  The children enjoyed hot dogs and Lucozade (with 1000 hotdogs prepared by our own team!), and were treated to energy bars and gift bags.
The call from the children at the end of the day was "Laduuuma...!" - we're doing it!

Jeanette Ryan and Mary Bannan