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Duration: 3min 29sec

Transcript

VIRGINIA MMOLANE: My name is Virginia Mmolane. I’€™m from the parish of London. I work as a care-giver. As care-givers we look after the sick, particularly those with HIV and AIDS and TB. We also take care of orphans. The major problems we encounter is that most of the people we visit don’€™t have food, some of the orphans don’€™t have anywhere to stay and don’€™t have clothes on their backs.

KHOPOTSO: Virginia Mmolane is one of 27 care-givers who has dedicated her life to lending a hand after witnessing the chaos caused by AIDS in their region of Bolobedu, in rural Limpopo. Home-based care-givers are often the first port of call in a community when AIDS strikes. Bolobedu is a sprawling community of 36 villages. No one could tell me the population size, but everyone said, there were ‘€œa lot of people living there.’€ In this scenario, 27 care-givers is a drop in the ocean. Caiaphas Mohale, another dedicated soul, identifies why there are so few volunteers.

CAIAPHAS MOHALE: We don’€™t have something to give them. They always want money after that. They want pay or something like that.

KHOPOTSO: The lack of money constantly confronts these angels of mercy, who work as part of a relief team for the Catholic Church in the area. However, they remain undaunted.

VENDA LESEKA: My name is Venda Leseka, from Lephephane. It’€™s difficult when I have to administer TB treatment to some of my clients, as they often don’€™t have food. I am forced to make means to find them food. We also don’€™t get paid. We are voluntarily serving the community. We usually report cases to social workers. Sometimes they give us food parcels. But these are not enough for all the people we look after.                            

KHOPOTSO: Food security and nutrition have been identified as central issues in the pending national HIV and AIDS treatment roll-out. Leseka emphasises that to end the cycle of poverty the real challenge is to empower people ‘€“ whether HIV positive or not ‘€“ with skills to find ways to feed themselves.

VENDA LESEKA: I’€™d like to encourage our people not to resign themselves to the fact that they are ill or are orphans, and thus, they have to act helpless and to forever accept donations. They need to be active. They should start food gardens. They should use their hands to feed themselves.

KHOPOTSO: Caiaphas Mohale has already introduced a practical solution.

CAIAPHAS MOHALE: We go to the farmers and we get seedlings and we give to the orphans, so that at the end of the day they’€™ve got something. Unlike we make them beggars out of our projects, we are trying to say they must be independent themselves. They must have a garden where they can plant vegetables so that at the end of the day they have something to eat. Unlike we just give and give. In the Bible it says ‘€˜teach this person to fish,’€™ not to give him the fish every time. You are spoiling the person.

KHOPOTSO: But even so, the need for a regular income remains. Mohale says it’€™s a major hurdle for people to access social grants.

CAIAPHAS MOHALE: You know, you find that this is an old person. This person doesn’€™t have an ID. How do you process the grant? How do you do all these things?

You are to fill the forms. So, what we do is to take the social worker to go and see and fill the forms because these people say they’€™ve got no money.          

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