Trip to Mandeni: Ubuntu in the face of HIV pandemic

Monday the 22nd of June, i woke up with one objective in mind- that i was going to travel to Mandeni about 120km out of Durban to evaluate some projects on behalf of Durban RAG. This was essentially to build a profile of two organizations in that rural area to make a recommendation on whether RAG should fund them in their endevours or not. The two organizations i visited were quite distant apart in organization and stature. However both organizations are centrally focussed on contributing to the well-being of the people through health programmes and HIV and AIDS as forming the integral aspects of their objectives.

The focus of this piece is not to discuss these organizations but some tenets which manifested themselves in the interaction with the people on my visit and the major one being the ability of the women in Mandeni to mobilize themselves and form an organization which is making high strides in the development and definition of the community health agenda, by among other things facilitating home based care programmes for the community. It is important to mention that HIV rate in South Africa remains quite high with the country being rated at one of the top spots in HIV rates in the world. Coupled with high poverty levels and high unemployment levels, These social ills have side by side torn the South African social fabric into pieces. While the South African urban population celebrates living in world class cities- in which they rich and the poor live side by side (*Pls read Standing on top of Pavilion a sequel to this article), the situation in rural areas is quite a different story. Poverty is quite hight as well and previously HIV and AIDS viewed as the urban disease has infiltrated into these peripheries of urban life where resources are as scarce as any third world country.

When the women leadership in Mandeni talked with ease on how they are contributing to the welfare of others through HIV programmes, especially home based care, i just thinking, wow! that is the way to go. While the government in South Africa has the capacity to create more tangible health programmes which would benefit the terminally ill, the extent of the HIV scorge is equally in many ways making it quite difficult for expansive programmes that would be of profound impact to all corners of the country. That is why efforts by organizations like Kwasamukera Home Based Care provide a tangible alternative. In many ways these organizations contribute to women's skills development and broaden and acculturate ubuntu to the source of life where many of us constantly retrace our values from, the rural areas. While these organizations function mostly due to the good will of the members and the charismatic elements of the leadership- the shortage of resources like gloves which are essential in their day to day work, requires that such oragizations should have equal access to clinics which can provide such small amteral resources.

Kwasamukera is in many ways a rich face of true African values in which your neighborhood relationships play an important role in watching each others backs. While the country reels from thed impact of the epidemic it is imperative to equally retrace our African values, integrating posive aspects of our tradition in HIV and AIDS programmes could have positive and integral impact on the successful implementation of far reaching HIV and AIDS agenda