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.