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May 23rd, 2007 posting

Update by Susan Green, Acting Executive Director

I am sitting in front of the computer looking out on the ever so spectacular scene of mist rising in the valley with the mountains etched out against a clear blue sky in the distance. South Africa has to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

We are moving into winter so we've had several hard frosts in the four weeks I've been here. We have had to scrape the ice off the truck windows in the morning. The very cool nights are offset by daytime temperatures in the high teens to mid 20's so one must dress in layers both inside and out. Some days, however, have been bitterly cold from morning to night. There is no central heating here. It has already been as low as 4 degrees Celsius inside in the morning – making it extra challenging to get out of bed!

Volunteers Dave, Joel and JD.

I'm here with three other volunteers – all students at the University of Alberta: Dave Tran pre-med/Bio Science grad, Joel Brochu, 3rd year Engineering and my son JD Roth 3rd year Chemistry and Physics. We also had a school teacher, Carolyn Douglas and a nurse, Kathleen Paton both of whom have just left.

My first week here was a series intense briefing sessions so that I was as well prepared as possible to take over the reigns while Chris and Jim Newton, the founders and executive directors of Edzimkulu, take a well deserved sabbatical. Since then we've been going full blast in the village.

I am totally impressed with the progress that has been made since I was here one year ago. The people of Ndawana – led by four remarkable women, Busi, Matu, Ntsiki and Zanele – have worked together with Edzimkulu volunteers from Canada to make Ndawana a place of hope and promise. Health care has been our priority and it shows. We now are a full fledged heath post which means we have government support, including some funding. As well, we can administer Anti retroviral drugs (ARVs) to AIDS patients right in the village. We have a doctor visit three times each month. We have both a professional nurse – and as of June 1st – an enrolled nurse who can draw blood , do health workshops, home visits and the like. More than 25% of people in the village have been tested for HIV and the stigma is fast disappearing.

I have so much to say but I will never get this letter off if I keep bragging about their successes. Let me give you a few highlights:

A really exciting initiative happened the day before Jim and Chris left. They found out the Government of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has selected Edzimkulu to develop a health /home based care exchange program with two nearby villages – Mangeni and Tsawule. The news came after an initial meeting with their chiefs. We went back last week and selected 12 young women who are eager to become home based care workers. They will be trained by Edzmikulu’s community health workers by the end of May. They will then have the chance ‘shadow’ our workers in Ndawana as well as in their own villages – giving them plenty of hands on experience during the next few months. It’s such wonderful opportunity to have others benefit from the Edzimkulu model.

The goods from the container assembled by Edmonton Glenora (my club) and Edmonton West Rotary clubs (assisted on the South African side by the Hilton Howick Rotary club) are being put to good use. This includes schools supplies, blankets, toques, medical, craft and garden supplies. The hundreds of people in and around Edmonton who contributed to the container last year can feel very good about the contribution you made.

• Orphan feeding is now a finely tuned program. Thanks to our donors we are able to deliver food packs to 170 of the 270 orphans. We deliver for food two months including beans, maize, flour, oil, candles, tea, etc. so these children, many of whom are also heads of family can get adequate nutrition making learning and day to day living a whole lot easier.

• We now have two crèches (preschool programs) in the village with some 90 children between the ages of three to six. We also have some children as old as nine who have not been to school before. We have been able to help the teacher improve what she has to offer to the children so that they are better prepared for school and are also able to give them something to nutritious at lunch. We continue to have the support of the Underberg Country Women who are knitting sweaters and hats for all of these children.

• We are offering tutoring to the Grade 12 students so that more than 20% will pass their matriculation this year. Education is regrettably an uphill battle. While a number of the students are eager to learn, many of their teachers are much less committed .We have three bright young Canadians ready to tutor only to have classes regularly cancelled by the teachers. The Department of Education and the teachers union from the area have been out to meet with us and we are excited about the possibilities. The challenge is that we are in a less than attractive location for many and consequently we do not attract qualified teachers who are passionate about education. We have a long way to go in this area but we know that education is the key to their future.

• Both the beading women and the felting women are really developing some solid skills. We are aiming to develop a market in the nearby town of Underberg. The local craft store owner is very encouraging.

• Great story about condoms. We have condoms readily available in several locations around the community centre. We are an AIDS organization after all! We noticed that they were disappearing at a rapid rate and believed younger children were using them for balloons. We soon discovered that teenagers were cutting off the tops of the condoms using them to hold up their socks discarding the remains which the children then used for balloons! We see innovations every where!

• For all the animal lovers – Bhutie, the Jack Russell and Tsusi (the dog named after the Tsunami because she had been abandoned in a gorge in early 2005. I arrived two months later, only to lose her the first week I was here) – both are thriving. We try and go for a walk up in the hills whenever possible (we are at 6000 feet above sea level here) and they sleep on my bed each night– a bonus with the cool weather these last few days.

• Yesterday 54 weather records were broken in South Africa – all for low temperatures! You might imagine how much we love still being in winter here, given the fact that Edmonton's winter started in mid October!

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