Team PATA
Paediatric Aids Treatment for Africa
Pedal for Peddie Feedback
It has already been five months since funds were donated to the Keiskamma Trust on behalf of the donors and supporters of the Pedal for Peddie fund-raising bicycle ride. The funds you managed to raise were substantial and I would like to take this opportunity to report back to you on how your donations were put to use in our work with the villages of the Peddie Health District in the Eastern Cape.
Adolescent Fun Day: 18th July 2009
Saturday, 18 July 2009, was a special day for many of the youth attending Kidzpositive clinics. Not only was it Nelson Mandela’s 91st birthday, but it was also Kidzpositive’s Adolescent Fun Day at Ratanga Junction, which we shared with the Gugulethu Adolescent Clinic run by the Desmond Tutu Foundation.
Auntie Stella arrives in Cape Town
The 'Auntie Stella' life skills training kit for adolescents is a product of the Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC – www.tarsc.org),
Cell Life Project
'It's a Wednesday morning in G26. The clinic is a hive of activity. Patients are filtering in; children are having their temperatures taken and being weighed; the Beading Group is meeting to begin their days work; the urn is heating up to provide hot drinks for caregivers. It’s a full clinic, ...
Kidzpositive at PATA 2008 in Kigali
Kidzpositive was a PATA (Paediatric AIDS Treatment for Africa) partner in a most successful fourth PATA forum held in Kigali, Rwanda during the last week of November 2008. The meeting was attended by 44 teams from 19 Sub-Saharan countries.
Adolescent health care planning workshop
Kidzpositive, in partnership with PATA (Paediatric AIDS Treatment for Africa: www.teampata.org) ran a successful planning workshop in Cape Town in May 2008.
- The workshop was designed to identify key requirements of a health care portfolio for HIV-positive adolescents in the Western Cape Province and to identify priority tasks necessary to develop a health care service.
- More than 130 health care workers and 20 young people attended the 2 day workshop.
- Staff training, dedicated facilities for the youth, with one-stop service delivery and additional resources for psychological support and life skills training were identified as major priorities.
- Workshop proceedings have been published and a DVD recording of plenary presentations has been circulated to participants.
Adolescent Services
The Paediatric HIV/AIDS Service opened a dedicated adolescent clinic at the beginning of 2007. The project has benefitted from the inclusion of adolescent care as a topic for the PATA 2007 meeting in Swaziland and will benefit from outcomes of the adolescent planning workshop presented by Kidzpositive and PATA (Paediatric AIDS Treatment for Africa) at the end of May 2008. Kidzpositive employs a full-time counsellor, Ms Phumla Tyulu who runs the adolescent support group. Ms Tyulu is supervised by Ms Nuruneesa Lalkhen, a psychologist based at Groote Schuur Hospital.
'Extra Time' Magazine as a teaching aid in life skills classes
A validation study for HIV/AIDS education involving GRASSROOTSOCCER www.grassrootsoccer.org.
The workbook, designed to look like a soccer magazine and using the game of soccer as a metaphor to transmit messages about HIV/AIDS is being tested at the Ocean View Secondary School near Vishoek on the Cape Peninsula. Funds were obtained from the Rotary Club of Claremont to print 20 000 copies of 'Extra Time'. The magazine is currently being distributed through youth organizations.
Research Ethics permission for this study has been obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the School of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town
If it proves to be of value as a teaching aid, it is possible that the Department of Education will support its distribution throughout the Western Cape Province.
Clinical Service improvement
Between January 2007 and May 2008, according to Western Cape Department of Health statistics the number of children on ARVs at clinics supported by the GSH HIV/AIDS service increased from 608 to 870. Retention in care has been good.
The next six stories listed on this page were written in 2002. Children first gained access to anti-retroviral therapy in May 2002
One Wednesday morning in an AIDS clinic
We had been seeing Mrs Z and her granddaughter in the clinic since last September. Mrs Z. has a job, but she and Tobeka arrive early, every fourth Wednesday morning to sit and wait their turn in the G25 Clinic at Groote Schuur Hospital, where children with HIV infections are seen as outpatients. ...
Little veterans of the children's ward
At Easter, Masi* was in the ward again. This time it was gastro-enteritis with diarrhoea. He was in the ward at Christmas as well; and three times in between. In the past calendar year, he spent more than one hundred and fifty days in hospital, each time with a new infection. He is no exception, ...
Not just any day
Sunday 14 April was a very special day in the children's ward at Groote Schuur Hospital. A group of twenty people, visiting the Western Cape to walk a trail through the Cederberg, visited the ward to hand us a cheque for R 750 000. ...
Sad Thursday
The infant of an HIV-infected mother will not necessarily be infected with the HI-virus at birth. The baby has two chances out of three of escaping the virus. ...
The journeys of Gary and Mark
Mark Shuttleworth, South Africa's first man to journey into space came back to earth last weekend - and Gary S* and his parents got back from Pietersburg in the province of Limpopo. To my mind Mark and Gary's journeys are comparable ...
When a child dies
Last week we lost two of our longest surviving little veterans of AIDS. A little girl and boy, neither yet five years old died in our ward within two days of one another. We had known them for nearly four years. ...
Thembakazi Nkunwana talks about managing the mothers' support group in G25
Talking to us about problems in parenting at the PATA Conference, was Thembakazi Nkunkwana, the backbone of the support group at the Kidzpositive Project. She started the support group at the beginning of 2005, and has since then also initiated a children's support group. ...
Nomsa's Story
2008
I was asked by the doctor to post-test counsel Nomsa; a 26 year old slightly built, gentle faced young woman. She sat in a chair next to the cot, rocking her tiny baby in her arms, looking at my face with hope and fear at the same time. ...
The Mothers Share their Stories
In 2002 Nqobani Mkhwanazi, then Head Girl of St Cyprian's School, Cape Town, facilitated the initial donation of R4000 to fund the Positive Beadwork Project. On her return visit three years later, she was quite 'bowled over' as to how things had developed. ...
Hello, from New York!
Today, my home in Westchester, New York is laced with snow. It is a little more than a year since I was in South Africa, doing volunteer work with Kidzpositive. Since then I have been back, nursing in the New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. I certainly do miss the warmer weather in South Africa, but more than that, I miss the energy radiating from the mothers and children of Kidzpositive. ...
Children are Plump and High-Spirited on ARV's.
I've been part of the ARV team for about 5 months. Despite the fact that I've been working in paediatrics since my internship, I suddenly found myself overwhelmed. Not just by the disease itself but by the children and their mums. ...
The Zip-Zap Circus: A celebration of being normal
In partnership with the One to One Children's Fund and thanks to corporate funding from Aurum and Aquatan, Kidzpositive presented a performance of the Zip-Zap Circus School at the Oliver Tambo Hall in Khayelitsha on December 1st, World AIDS Day. ...
Paediatric HIV/AIDS Service at the Crossroads Community Health Centre (CHC)
When the One to One Children's Fund asked for a list of Kidzpositive projects to support, back in 2001, a community-based service was top of the list. In January 2006, that dream finally materialised. ...
Art in G25 and Kidzpositive.
In the children's Art therapy group we have covered many different areas from abuse, germs that invade, how medicines work and some children share heartbreaking stories. In the deepest sorrow and pain there is a special joy, the art enables us to share the many losses and little miracles.
Thembakazi goes to Paris and to Crossroads
August 2006
It was a great pleasure to me for being part of the Childhood & Aids Conference in Paris as I'm working with kids. The conference was fruitful in a way that I've gained a lot on how to work with kids, ...
Some of our mothers go back to school
2006
All moms attending the clinic with their children at Groote Schuur Hospital are now being paid R20 bus fare per visit. This brought relief to moms who were struggling with bus fare and we have fewer missed appointments. Some mothers decided to go back to school this year and they are being supported financially. They are attending Adult Education at Groote Schuur Hospital night school, in order to complete their high school education and to achieve a school-leaving certificate. They approached Kidzpositive for help with the cost of their transport home in the evenings after school.
Grannies knit
Every winter,freshly created knit-wear streams into the clinic: Beanies, pullovers, cardigans, 'Mother Theresa' tops, booties. They are the natural produce of a band of loyal grannies - ...
Interview with Elelwani Ramugondo,OT, on the importance of play
Elelwani Ramugondo is an Occupational Therapist with UCT Health and Rehabilitation Science and an expert in children's play. She has worked with Kidzpositive, is on the Kidzpositive Board and still does some informal work in the clinic. I spoke to Elelwani about the importance of play
Body Spectra 2006
Celebrities, ornate body painted costumes, singing performances, fire spinning, levitating roses and an array of creativity and talent that exceeded every expectation. It was all happening at City Varsity's annual event where students showcase their work, this year at the Cape Convention Centre.
A special thanks to Cutting Edge Events for all their promotion!
Benefit Dinner and Auction
2006
The North Eastern University Human Services Senior Seminar Class held an event to benefit Kidzpositive. The class of 6 students hosted the event at a restaurant and lounge in Boston, Massachusetts.
It's not the end of the Road
Dr Jean Paul Kanyik
2006
I have been working in the G25 HIV clinic for nearly 2 years. Initially, I didn't realize how challenging it would be dealing with HIV positive children, mothers, fathers, and the social impact of the disease.
I quickly learned how great the G25 clinic has been doing since 2002, starting children and parents on ARVs,giving them back their lives. We're a family clinic, there is a strong follow up of children and their parents and a Kidzpositive Beadwork income generation project for mothers.
Dr Charles Dreyer
2007
Dr Charles Dreyer is a very busy man. As is often the case, a busy man frequently finds himself in search for more work. Soon after Dr Dreyer, who is based at Oudtshoorn Hospital and works in the Oudtshoorn District became involved in the care of children with HIV/AIDS, he saw the need to educate and inform the community and its health care workers about this health care challenge. He applied to Kidzpositive for a laptop computer so that he could deliver Powerpoint presentations in communities as far apart as Prince Albert and Uniondale. This is the sort of commitment we need to encourage and support.
Sidaction
Sidaction, which carries out various projects with French-speaking clinics in Africa, has proven to be a most valuable contributor to the Kidzpositive Family Fund. The involvement of Sidaction started as early as 2002, when the Beadwork project had just been set up. ...
The International Ludwig Mugrauer
As a medical student from Bonn, Germany,in October 2007, I was invited to do a five month internship in the G25 paediatric ward at the Groote Schuur Hospital. At the same time Dr. Paul Roux involved me with Kidzpositive. ...
Market Day and Mobile Boxes
It is market day in Daylesford and Bunninyong, Australia. Pupils from Ballarat Grammar, Nick, Seb, and Josh are heading for the one town and Hannah and Sophie for the other with 'mobile boxes' of Positive Beadwork and other charity products to set up their stall. ...
Caring for Women and their Children in a Family Clinic
I feel fortunate to be working in the Kidzpositive clinic where many of my patients are mothers of the children. A mother is the most important person in most children's lives - one of few people who will care for and love the child unconditionally. ...
The New Adolescent Clinic
The adolescent clinic - funded by Sidaction - is an exceptional project within the Kidzpositive Family Fund. The idea of a support group for HIV-positive adolescents was realised after the youths expressed their wish to be separated from the younger children. ...
A Mother's Story... Nomsa (Not her real name) talks to Kate Gray
"In 2000 when my son Lunga was 4 months old he was extremely ill and admitted to hospital. It was a frightening experience as no one could tell me what was wrong ...
Kidzpositive and the Rotary Club of Claremont
Kidzpositive has benefited from the annual Argus Cycle Tour in Cape Town through generous support from the Rotary Club of Claremont for several of our projects. The Claremont Rotary Club has lent a hand with support for the Positive Beadwork Project through the provision of start-up funds for our satellite sites at FAMSA, the Red Cross Society of South Africa, Fikelela, Themba Care, Victoria Hospital and several others.
More recently, the international committee of Claremont Rotary has made a donation for the support of the international marketing of Positive Beadwork products. Readers may be surprised to know that Positive Beadwork products have been sold from Reykjavik to Alice Springs and from Vancouver to Croatia. The rapid development of this market has had much to do with the work of our enthusiastic partners in the Round Square Conference of schools.
Ndebele cards
Our new product 'Ndebele cards' feature beautiful ethnic designs on beaded squares with a pin attached so you are buying more than just a card and your purchase is supporting a family affected by HIV/AIDS. The beadwork can be worn as a brooch or pinned to a bag. The cards are R20 each and can be ordered from beads@kidzpositive.org or inquiries to
+27 21 686 9710.