South Africa (2005)
Ten years ago,
in 2005, I began work as a volunteer in the small rural village of
Pharare in the northern Limpopo Province of South Africa.
I
was initially tasked with setting up a hospice care unit in an old disused and
dilapidated farmstead. When I arrived though, it turned out to be even worse
than I had been expecting. The farm was overgrown with trees and thorn bushes,
and infested with the most deadly of snakes imaginable - black mambas and
spitting cobras to name but a few. As an example, on the first day there while meeting and
greeting with some local volunteers, a snake squirmed out of a gap in the
ceiling of the farmhouse and fell to the floor at our feet! It was quickly
dispatched, but I'm sure my reaction must have caused great amusement to the
locals, who are undoubtedly well used to seeing such things.
I was
delighted with the challenge facing me, and within days of arriving, we
had begun drawing up plans for our project.
On the
advice of the Health Ministry and the South African Hospice Association (HPCA) though, we agreed to alter our initial plan of an in-patient Hospice Unit and to
establish a Palliative Care training centre on the site, where local volunteers
and medical professionals would receive expert training in pain management and
the care of terminally ill patients, similar to the model in Hospice Uganda,
where I had worked with Dr Anne Merriman as a volunteer many years before.
In the
meantime, our team of local volunteers introduced me to the local healthcare facility
and orphanage, run by a fantastic team of Sisters from South Africa and Australia, and we immediately offered to assist them in any way we could.
We began preparing
the farm for planting, and our first crops of spinach, potatoes, tomatoes,
herbs and peppers all flourished in the rich soil and temperate climate. We donated to the Orphanage
and Clinic to assist in their nutrition programme.
We were asked
if we would be willing to transport HIV sufferers from all the outlying areas
into the Clinic twice a week for their treatment, and then home again. I was
delighted with the opportunity to help, and the work gave me a wonderful
insight into the lives of the people in the region - for the most part, farming
country people, many of whom lived in isolation, high up in the Drakensberg Mountains.
They were all such beautiful people though, and despite the language barrier,
we had some great times as we drove across unmarked grasslands and down eroded
dirt tracks and dry river beds, me trying to keep the vehicle on track, while
they chattered and laughed - at my expense no doubt, oblivious to my inexperience
at driving in such terrain.
As an example of the cases we met, one
of our ‘clients’, Jonathan, was suffering from a serious skin condition and
was covered from the top of his head to the soles of his feet with weeping festering
sores. Jonathan had been virtually spurned by his family and neighbours who
feared that they too might catch the infection. He was a pitiful sight, and since
he was unable to properly wash himself, the smell from his lonely cabin was overpowering.
However, we knew we would have to get him to the Clinic for treatment somehow if
he was to have any quality of life
On our first day visiting Jonathan, I had brought some cigarettes for him, and we sat for a while
chatting as he savoured his fag, before dressing him and preparing him for the
journey. Because even the soles of his feet were covered in sores, I had to
physically carry him to the car for the long journey down from the mountain. Jonathan,
a man in his late thirties, was so overjoyed with the company - and the fags -
that he sobbed all the way to the Clinic that first morning. Within the space of
a few weeks, his sores had begun to heal and he could walk to the car unaided. You can just imagine the joy this brought to us as caregivers. He was well-educated and highly knowledgeable on the affairs of his country, and we soon
became very good friends.
Another lady, Miriam (you can see
her photos attached) had been living in an isolated patch of land with her
three orphaned grandchildren. They were attacked one night by a gang of
robbers and left for dead, so Miriam decided it would be safer to move closer
to the village, where she erected a small shelter of plastic sheeting for her
family.
Our volunteers brought me to meet
Miriam, and with the support of nursing students and lecturers at Dundalk
Institute of Technology, we agreed to try to provide Miriam with a more secure
home. The local Village Chief gave us a small plot of land, and we drew up the
plans for a small house. With the skills of my two friends and fellow
volunteers, Sam and Munyai, we began digging the foundations and mixing the
cement to manufacture the bricks for the house. Miriam and her eldest
granddaughter, now in her teens, worked alongside us, digging and mixing as
well as any qualified builder. One of the nursing students, Michael Rooney, who
had been a plasterer in a previous life, travelled especially from Ireland to assist
in the work, and before long the house was ready for the family to move in.
That evening, the
whole village turned out to welcome Miriam and her family with a huge shindig
that went on into the early hours, with traditional costumes and dancing, and music
and story-telling.
In the meantime, our
plans for the Hospice Training Centre were moving along nicely, and the HPCA
sent staff and volunteers from Johannesburg ( a round journey of over 600km) to
address a meeting of our volunteers at the farm on the importance of palliative
care, and to provide early training for the community.
The meeting was a
huge success, but while all our local volunteers were enthusiastic and highly motivated,
all was not as it seemed!
For some unknown
reason, the committee in Dundalk who oversaw the project, instead of taking the
advice of the experts in HPCA and the Health Ministry - and the wisdom of local
volunteers - decided that they wanted to do it their way or not at all. In
other words, they wanted to set up an in-patient Hospice Care Unit and
rejected our proposal for a training unit for palliative caregivers.
Rather than
compromise, they eventually pulled funding altogether, and although I was a
volunteer I was sacked. Disillusioned but not disheartened, I had to return to
Ireland.
Before I left to
return home, parties were held for me in all the local villages, with children
and adults performing traditional dance and music - the South Africans are as
good as the Irish at partying, although to my disappointment there was no alcohol
to be seen.
I’ve maintained my
contact with the Clinic and with some of the volunteers over the years, and in
2006 I raised money for the construction of a drop-in centre for the disabled
in Pharare village, which is still running to this day.
Sadly, too many overseas
agencies and individuals come up with their own plans on how to ‘Save’ Africa. With
their plans already made, they start throwing money at a problem that possibly doesn’t
even exist, without first and foremost seeking the advice of the local
community as to what their needs are.
* Students and teaching staff from the School of
Nursing at Dundalk Institute of Technology.
Below are some of the photographs I took during my stay in
South Africa. I’ve tried to group them, in no particular order, under various
categories as follows:
·
* * Birds (I’ve tried to identify each bird species
as best I could. But since I am no expert, I trust you will forgive any mistakes
or errors I've made.
· * Wildlife (in Black& White and Colour)
· * Snakes and reptiles.
· * The development of The Farm, and our attempts to
establish a Palliative Care training facility there.
· * My friends in Pharare village. Many of the
children will have grown into adults by now and have their own young families.
· * The construction of a home for an elderly lady
caring for her three orphaned teenage grandchildren.
· * The children, staff and volunteers at Holy
Family Orphanage and Clinic.
· * The families of my special friends, Sam and
Munyai (you’ll notice the beautiful small baby in some of the photos who has
now grown into a young teenager).
· * Climbing in the Drakensberg Mountains.
* And of course, my beautiful dog and cat, Brandy and Fuisce. It truly broke my heart and I cried bitter tears leaving them behind when I left to come home. But I found good homes for them and I pray they lived happy lives without me.
END
