Progress

Yho, time flies when you are busy. It feels like I am continuously busy trying to get there but when I think about it, its as if I should be able to just choose and I will be there and have the fulness right now and here. I find that you actualy can do this, just become aware of your breathing and the surrounding sounds to start with.
Anyway, this is where we as TransCape are at:

HIV/AIDS

1. Treatment

· ARV Unit - A third park home has been installed and is fully in use. Dave, the project manager and building contractor of the TB ward renovation, agreed to coordinate the building of a roof and floor between the old and new park homes, extending the existing waiting area. He also agreed to install the electricity and water to the unit.

· The desktop that was used to keep ARV statistics in the unit broke down, so we replaced it.

· We are employing four people at the moment to help at the unit – two pill counters and two administrators assisting patients.

· The unit is currently putting about 15 new patients on treatment per week, compared to the 20 per month at about the same time two years ago. There are about 1 000 people on treatment by now.

· Down-referral- Thanks to the very thorough system Simone established, Caroline is very successfully down referring to the 9 Canzibe feeder-clinics. Previously, patients had to travel very far each month to receive their treatment at the ARV unit, but now they can just go to the closest clinic.

· The task of down-referral is immense. All the medication has to be pre-packed at the ARV unit at Canzibe and then be at the right clinic at the right time for the right patient. All this is happening in rural Africa!

· So far an average of 16 patients per clinic have received treatment through down-referral and Caroline is starting to reach 5 patients per month per clinic. She established that, in their current states, the clinics cannot handle more than 25 patients per day.

· When that number is reached, more clinic days will have to be sacrificed for ART or the clinic capacity needs to be broadened. We are considering both options at the moment and are in communication with Canzibe management, Clinic Authorities and District HIV management.

· Caroline continues to provide very important training to the nurses, which is necessary for the system to work.

· TransCape provides the transport, administration and stipends for support group members assisting her at the clinic.

· The treatment program costs TransCape about R7 000, 00 per month at the moment and Caroline’s work is voluntary.

2. Prevention

· The Wild Coast Theatre group is continuing with an average of 2 community awareness days, 2 soccer tournaments and 4 school awareness days per month (a total of 8 awareness days per month)

· The project employs 8 people

· An average awareness event consists mainly of information provision, a theatre performance, open discussion and peer to peer communication.

· 21, 116 people attended community awareness days and soccer tournament awareness events

· 28, 020 children attended school awareness days where issues like HIV sexual transmission, HIV prevention, living with HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, self esteem, human rights and alcohol and drugs were discussed.

· 1540 children attended school workshops concerning the same issues and 84 support group and other relevant community members were trained in doing HIV prevention campaigns in their communities.

· The PMTCT Program is also continuing with providing HIV-positive mothers with the alternative of formula and education personnel, in order to increase awareness of the importance to bring pregnant women into the system so that they and their children could be protected.

· An average of 30 women per month are cared for through the PMTCT Program

· Both these programs cost TransCape R 23,500.00 per month.

· We decided to fund Sokanye Prevention Team for 6 awareness events over two months. They reported about the first three which took place over June. I am waiting for the report for July.

3. Support

· We are supporting 11 HIV adult support groups (550 people) and one children’s support group (38 children). The adult groups meet once every week and the children’s group meets once every month when they receive their treatment. These meeting are used for support, training and for the children as a special event. Last week the children’s group went on a weekend to East London.

· Three adult support groups have established gardens and will soon start planting their food gardens.

· The Support Program costs TransCape about R 5, 000 per month.

4. Home Based Caring

· Siyakhula Home Based Care group continues to go strong. They directly support three other HIV support groups, 203 orphans, about 100 elderly and frail people. They are currently treating 12 critically ill patients in their homes, every day.

· At the same time they are providing community and school HIV awareness programs and assist anyone that needs to go to hospital or who wants to test for HIV. The big advantage with Home Based Caring in the community context, is that who ever needs help can receive it because everyone knows everyone and with carers spread throughout the community, help is always accessible.

· Lindelwa is still in East London after giving birth to her child. It’s going well with her and her family. The rest of the group is looking for accommodation for her when she returns in September.

· Siyakhula is still waiting for the renewal grant from government. Once the government cut down on 14 stipends, we were able to obtain funds to carry these costs in the interim.

· The two new groups, Mdumbi and Philisa Home Based Care groups both completed their training in Mthatha. Philisa opened their bank account and both are working on their business plans to apply for the SOCDEV grant. We still need to help them establish offices.

· Recently we were contacted by Mthatha Rotary who offered to provide wheel chairs for people in our communities. Within one day we were able to send Rotary a list of people needed wheelchairs in the three communities where the HBC groups are active.

· There are still 8 wards left in our area of operation and all are in need of a HBC group in each one.

· The Home Based Care program costs TransCape about R 5,200.00 per month.

5. HIV and Health Strategy

· We have been working on our new HIV/AIDS strategy and realized that setting up the networks and infrastructure to address the issue can be valuable for many other aspects of community development like other health issues, OVC’s, education and community capacity. We hope to soon send you a proposal capturing this holistic approach.

· By mid September we will have two new project managers, Erin and Nancy, who will focus on HIV/AIDS, This will be a welcome relief and support to those TransCape members who are busy on the ground with these projects.

6. Other Health related projects

· We have strengthened our relationship with the Canzibe Hospital Management and we now conduct meetings every three months. In addition to that we decided upon a monthly HIV/AIDS meeting in order to formulate our new strategy. The management is very grateful for support received from TransCape and donors.

· Nokuphila Nutritional Centre is still going strong. It is estimated that we would have treated more than 45 children by the end of this year.

· The doctors working at Canzibe are now able to send malnourished children to Nokuphila as well as make use of the Children in Need Project. This project provides financial assistance to any impoverished child that visits the hospital and has basic needs that are not being met.

· Both these programs cost us about R5, 500.00 per month.

· We have started with the renovation of the TB ward at Canzibe Hospital. The electricity system has been redone and upgraded to incorporate the installation of the ventilation system, which will happen next year. Basic reconstruction of certain rooms and reconstruction of the whole plumbing system is being done at the moment. This is a three year project.

· The hospital management also asked us to renovate the nurse’s homes and split the doctor’s accommodation so that more doctors can be accommodated. We will soon have proposals requesting financial support for this need.

· Philani Clinic roofs are completed and the walls are painted.

· The TransCape Volunteer Accommodation at Canzibe is going well. The ceiling has been completed and tiling and paint work is finished. Only the main floors still need covering and some final touches. like the light fittings need to be installed.


EDUCATION

1. Early Childhood Development

· Mdumbi Education Centre continues to thrive and develop and set the standard for high quality early childhood education and care.

· Three preschools in the area have been inspired by this example and have approached TransCape to partner with them

· TransCape and MEC are currently supporting these schools with teacher training and professional development for 12 teachers as well as nutritional porridge for 140 children age 3-6 years.

· We are also rotating resources like theme boxes, books, toys and other educational resources and a generous donation of stationery helped all the preschools with supplying educational tools like pencils, paper and scissors, which are all imperative for learning

· Our ECD mentor, from America, is here with us for the next two weeks to work with the 4 preschools and 12 teachers in our preschool cluster

2. After School Enrichment

· 150 children continue to attend classes in the afternoon at MEC. They watch educational TV, work in their literacy books and learn from educational software on the computers

· We are currently looking for a skilled project manager to help improve and develop this program to include a variety of after school activities, like sport, gardening etc

3. Youth Development

· TransCape was able to raise funds to purchase a beautiful temporary classroom structure for the local high school. The grade 10 learners were without a classroom for the first part of the year and so we were happy to be able to accommodate about 150 new learners

· We were also able to buy much needed furniture for the high school. We bought new desks and chairs in an effort to upgrade the classrooms and we have bought the timber to build shelves in each classroom

· Without a skilled project manager for this project, we have been unable to move into the second phase, which is to educate the principal and learners in how to use the equipment and furniture and how to treat these items with respect.

· We are looking for operational funding to ensure this project is a success

4. Adults

· We recently hosted a very successful ABET Prize giving for 43 learners who passed exams with very commendable results

· 96 learners are currently enrolled in our ABET program

· We are sure this number will increase as we offer business and computer courses to supplement learning

5. Scholarships

· We recently received much needed funding to continue to support two learners at boarding school in Umtata. Both are doing well and are in regular contact with us regarding their development and school work.

· We are so happy to announce that 5 other learners entering grade 10 next year will be financially supported at school in Umtata. They are well-deserving young learners and are bound to make the most of the opportunity

· A friend of TransCape in America, has taken on board the financial support of one of the preschool graduates of 2008. Musa’s mother died in December last year, leaving him without family and financial support. He is incredibly bright and well-deserving of a 12 year scholarship

6. Operational

· We are in need of operational funds in order to continue to carry out the projects set in motion. With funding, we will be able to afford project managers to guide and support each project

· The education program has a running cost of close to R30 000,00 per month.


SOCIAL

1. Micro Finance

· Here are some statistics of the previous businesses:

61 individuals received a Microfinance (MF) loan
5 loans were not repaid
389 dependants benefitted
there was a 254% increase in income as a result of MF
R118 115.00 was spent on loans
Additional admin costs of R20 694.00 were incurred
Going forward, we will be able to establish 4 groups per year with an average of 20 people per group.

· We started 20 new micro finance businesses so far this year. After a two day business skills workshop, the successful applicants each received R2, 000.00 to start their business.

· We are considering a new approach of rather starting products and service developments than businesses. The running costs for starting 80 developments per year is about R1700 per month.

2. Soccer

· The next Mdumbi Cup Soccer Tournament is taking place from the 6-7 August. We have our full HIV Prevention program happening on both days with an added program especially for the children. Same as last year, 12 teams are participating and we have the Surf Masters group down from Jeffreys Bay to assist. We expect about 2500-3500 spectators on each day.

· We are planning something big for next year. The idea is that some of our international donors could host tournaments in their country as fundraising ventures. These tournaments will happen in conjunction with our HIV Prevention Soccer Tournament program. The winners of these tournaments will play out at next years Mdumbi Cup Tournament. Please let me know if you are interested to participate.

· We still need about R 15, 000 for this year’s tournament.


NATURAL RESOURCES

1. Tourism

· Mdumbi Professional Massaging and Siyaduma Restaurant are both doing well.

· This year we are busy with upgrading the Village Based Accommodation facilities for the hiking trail between Port st Johns and Coffee Bay. Last week the VBA owners received in house training and a two day workshop on hygiene and hospitality. We purchased eight new hot water “donkey” systems and table chair combinations and hope to have it all installed before end next month.

· I was selected chairperson of the Nyandeni Local Tourism Organization for Nyandeni Municipality. This has opened some doors for the development of the two tourism ventures we have been working on for years now, Mdumbi Point and Lwandile. We hope to have proposals for this with you soon.

· Tata Spargs Volunteer Accommodation has become a whole volunteer program and we are working with ImmersionSA on this. This program promises a good income to many families in Mankosi area as well as some sustainable financial backing for TransCape.


OPERATIONAL

· We recently hosted a second TransCape capacity building workshop, where we developed a working vision and mission for our organization. We are open to suggestions, as this is not yet final.

· Vision - We are a connected community comprising of holistic, healthy and empowered individuals in an optimally developed and fairly managed sustainable environment.

· Mission – To be an optimally informed, monitored, open and accessible hub with relevant examples, tools and networks for making positive choices about how to live

· We made good progress with job titles and roles. This is also summarized in the attached organogram.

· Progress was also made with using Google docs and calendar. Soon we will send you information on how you can access documents like minutes of meetings or proposals online or how to see events happening on TransCape’s calendar.

· The database is loaded on our server and we are busy adding information.

· We hope to launch our new website by end September with links to blogs for all our projects.

· Next weekend we will have our next TransCape meeting and a training session for all members on how to use the Google, Database and Web tools.

· The month of July saw three of our international donors visiting. We had a great time with them, came up with great ideas and got good feed back on how we are doing.

Thats it for now, see later