South Africa Project

August 2008- A Place finally!

2008-09-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

August newsletter

A Dream Fulfilled

At last we are here and operational!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After years in Limbo we have made it. Somehow we have renovated two classrooms: one for the clinic and one for the office. Now there is a never ending flow of people bringing their problems and requests for help. Some for special needs children, for whom there is neither school placement nor the basic equipment to render them mobile. Others are trying to cope with the aftermath of rape. Most poignant are the children, abandoned to their own devises as the consequence of death or neglect.

However, we now have an agreement with the owners which will enable us to utilise the whole site for the princely sum of ZAR 1 per month. We have a project manager to oversee the design and drawings and we can now continue renovations in earnest. This relieves me of a duty which never sat comfortably. I have discovered the hard way that shouting and stamping my feet rarely advances the cause.

We need a multiplicity of skills. Some we can begin to develop ourselves. Others must rely upon government or NGOs. Sometimes we can provide no more than a ‘band aid’ approach, while we build up relationships with outside organisations which we hope will supplement our current efforts.
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Domestic Matters

Four weeks ago a social worker asked us to accommodate a 17 year old girl with a mental age of around seven years. She had been repeatedly raped by her brother and the request was for an estimated three day respite. Three days can be amazingly elastic in KZN and she is still with us.

In between events we had yet another break and enter. This was the last straw. So I have done a mad pack up and moved close to Winterton. We are now five minutes away from the new centre with electricity and reliable water, so my life has changed overnight.
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The Way Ahead

Local government departments are increasingly supportive of the centre and are slowly starting to find ways to work with us: a major breakthrough. Perhaps too much of a breakthrough as the local police now refer just about every issue short of homicide. I fear that sorting out the ‘rules of engagement’ will take some time and not a little patience.

Special needs children suffer from a severe absence of facilities. We are aiming for a monthly workshop which will involve physiotherapists from the Department of Health providing massage and remedial exercises as well as training for the mothers/carers. Hopefully the Department of Education will contribute through efforts to find places suitable for these neglected children. We have further plans for a similar day for special needs adults.

We are trying to set up extra training for the home base carers specifically in the areas of counselling and screening for conditions such as AIDS and TB. The aim is to replace the current twice monthly clinic with a five day a week service. In this connection we have just completed a two day HIV support workshop. We have also gained a social worker/counsellor on a one day per month basis: her first day is already oversubscribed.

An Australian nurse who has been working with another NGO in another town has just joined us full time and will head up the clinic and the respite (hospice) centre. This is a huge benefit, especially as she is self funded and has worked in South Africa long enough to avoid the sense of despair which can often affect the enthusiastic novice. A still further bonus is being able to work alongside another stable person.

So all in all, an amazing month. There is a renewed sense of purpose and an increased momentum which is not just limited to the present crew. The locals are becoming more interested and aware and this includes some in the white population.

Many thanks again and, as always, volunteers welcome!

July News for Sofi, Champagne Valley

2008-07-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

June/July Strelitzia Newsletter

We are in!.....and busy doing up two of more than 12 classrooms at the old school site. Soon to become a ‘drop-in’ centre and hospice. The first room will be an open plan office, incorporating a help desk offering advice on welfare matters and home affairs.

The second room to be commissioned will provide an all-weather home for a twice-monthly mobile clinic, currently housed under a tree. With luck and a good deal of encouragement of government departments we hope to gradually build up to a full time facility open on a daily basis.

Other members of the community are now getting excited and wanting to become involved. So, from these modest beginnings, we may develop into a much more comprehensive service.

The potential improvement in the lives of people resident in the local township of is hard to imagine. Currently a sick person has to travel 25 kms to the nearest clinic, spend all day waiting in the hope (often not realised) of receiving an accurate diagnosis (also something of a gamble) and being prescribed treatment which corresponds to the diagnosis.
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We are constantly trying to match what we can offer to the needs of the community. As part of this process four of our Home Bases Carers (all volunteers) have just completed a door-to-door survey. This has enabled us to focus on the more pressing needs and not become side-tracked by the ever-present requests for help. But the aim, as always, is to promote self-sufficiency.

Cindy, who has been working with me, is amazing and a huge asset. She has been heading up the survey in the township and hopes that, once finished, we can do the same thing in her village.

The down-side is that such projects create an even heavier load on the Home Based Carers. There are approx 14,000 people in Khetani alone, not including the surrounding farms and villages, and virtually every household has at least one member infected, most often with HIV/AIDS or TB. We are even finding orphans of 15 years pregnant and HIV positive.

What is the answer? The parents, at best, are stretched just getting them to school and providing sufficient food. They do not have the wherewithal to discipline them or hold them to account. Then they die leaving no one to support these children in the basics necessities of life

We will attempt to provide a long term answer, starting with the four new crèches. The aim being to establish discipline and values which will continue through primary and secondary education. Currently the role models on whom these children have to rely are often sick, impoverished and possibly abusive parents and family members. Teachers and local officials are often corrupt and guilty of sexual misconduct. Little wonder we are faced with infectious diseases and childhood pregnancies. But improvements are possible and have occurred in the past. To wit, the Steiner School founded by Nino but, sadly, no longer in existence. The products of that school, of which Cindy was one, have great personal integrity and strong leadership attributes.

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The day care centre will offer a vital service to working Mums, who are often faced with the choice of carrying the child on their back all day as they work in the fields or keeping an older sibling off school to care for the baby. Already the routine of bringing children to the bright, clean crèche has encouraged the mothers to show greater pride in their children, particularly their cleanliness. Being fed twice a day shows in the energy and alertness of the children. Adequate food and some personal attention is turning them into new people and demonstrating that change for the better is always possible.

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A young HIV positive mum with whom I have worked with for nearly a year is now living with me. She is four months pregnant and her alcoholic husband has just put her in hospital for a week after beating her. Herself, an orphan, with two children living with another family and two babies who died. All that and now homeless....
it seems like the women’s shelter has started.

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Despite these dramas, things really are coming together and we are beginning to offer a more holistic support to people within this community.............and I have finally received the plans for my house so am hoping that work will start soon.

Thank you again for all your support in helping this come about..

NEWS FROM MOSES- didn't upload?

2008-07-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

Dear all

Brothers and sisters ones again I would love to welcome you back in the new years and I hope you had a great festive season.

First of all I would like to apologise about my news letter it took me long to keep you guys updated but hopefully soon I’ll get asses to the internet then I will keep you guys updated every two weeks.

I have been placed to Mpumalanga in one of my school property that is owned by Three cities and there website is www.greenwaywoods.co.za encase if you guys want to see it. Basically what we are doing is we work there as the trainee and they pay as little money that we live out of it and I am also saving on that money to go overseas next year.

We were living in the property but they had to take us out because they wanted to us that chalet we were living in it. Its not that far its about 10km away from the hotel. Our hotel has got 50 chalet and they also have rooms.

We have got a huge kitchen that has 5 sections 1.Hot kitchen
2. Cold kitchen
3. Pastry
4.Staff food section
5. Ala carte section
Our hotel runs more than 6 functions a day and at the same time we also have to run the ala carte orders. Mostly what we are do is they put all the students on shift and they have to work split shift in order to make sure that the job is done.

I started in the hot section for few months and my previous chef took me out there because that’s the section I am good on it, he putted me in pastry for more month and I had to work very had so that they will put me in cold section and cold section is the most good one coz you have to be very much creative there.

Ladies and gentlemen ones again I would like you guys to put your faith on me and I promise I won’t let you down. I would be sending my results soon as possible we just waiting for it to come back in UK and I am go to attach it on the next newsletter.

Every months we go up in joburg for classes and we also get a chance to show our creativity over there, what we do is you get your own section and they tell you that you go to cook three course meal which ism, starter, main course and dessert, from there what they do is they get professional chefs to come and taste our food and give marks and all the wrong thinks you did.

Please keep emailing me when you can I enjoy it too much.

Note from Sofi

Thank you for all your support, as you see Moses is doing very well and is loving it. Speaking to one of the ladies from the organisation they are very happy with his work and is well liked by the head chefs.

I am still waiting for the 2008 school fee amount but guess it will be around R18,000 as per last year. If anybody would like to support Moses again you can transfer into my account:-

South African Account Or Australian account:-
Standard Bank NSW Teachers Credit Union
Acc Name: SJ Ntshalintshali Acc name: SJ Cogley
Branch Estcourt 057625 Acc number 1196097
Acc Number: 060110910 S1 Account
Ref: Moses studies Ref: Moses studies

News from Moses

2008-02-12T01:11:00.000-08:00

January 08 Newsletter

2008-02-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

THANK YOU…………………………………..

To all of you thank you so much for giving us all such an amazing time in oz. For Hlo especially his life has been transformed, he is now a confident man who knows what he wants and is going to get it.

We had a fairly uneventful flight and arrived safe with all out luggage to be met by a brother of a friend who took us to his house cooked for us and let us stay the night. The car had been cleaned and fully services absolutely amazing after warning the kids we were back to roughing it what a welcome!

The house was still standing although overgrown, but we found it. We were all waking at 4am in the morning so got up and had breakfast and started cutting back the weeds.

Monday spent most of the day checking on people who I had been assisting before I left all were well and recovering well so much for being indispensable………………

Hlo has come to work at home for a week to try and get the yard under control and fix all the leak.. He has been researching chefing courses and has found two possible that we are working on fingers crossed.

Doong found a uniform we had been given a year ago just in time for Monday morning with a pair of shoes we have bought in oz and the grey airplane socks he had a uniform and looked like he should for his first day hoorah! I must be a real mummy!
He hopped out of the car and was swamped by the older girls and escorted off to his classroom he is having a ball and loving it from one day to the next he is reading unbelievable

Homework more of an issue as I couldn’t work out how to do it, fortunately Tris who looks after him in the afternoons has volunteered to do it with him joy!

Miya is back into freedom mode running round like a mad dog and loving it, although still asking to go home so not sure how the ultimate realisation will go.

Sli and her two kids are still in the volunteer house and she has now enrolled back in school so have had words regarding her finding alternative accom.

Thando, I went to visit her at Eka Jesu the orphanage who have been looking after her, she has started in Grade 1 this year with them, after talking with them they offered to take her on long term subject to welfare to issue a safe house order for her there which they verbally agreed and she is doing so well and loving it. It is an amazing place with only 9 other children full time there so for now a great environment.

Moses was here on leave for 10 days and is flying and helped Hlo a lot with his college research. He left to go back today to college.

Cameron leaves on Monday and is counting the days, his work has gone mad so he is running all the way.
We now have a 2 month old whose mother is very sick and not strong enough to look after the baby and the neighbours’ are stealing the babys milk so hopefully just a few days until she can get on her feet again. He is very sweet Miya on one side and the baby on the other bed does not allow for much sleep between 2 hour feeds aghhhhhhhhhh

Other than that it is great to be back and lots happening the crèches are under way in Khetani.

I have just come back from a meeting with the owners of the old school site Celumfundo and I can pick up the keys tommorow we have the go ahead to move in and start, after nearly 5 years of trying to get land it is happening…………. Hoorah!!!

Lots of love to you all and thank you

Sofi, Hlo, Doong, Miya and cling ons…………………………

Moses Interview 2

2007-08-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

Talk with a teacher KwaZulu Natal

2007-08-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

July Newsletter from Sofi Cogley in Kwazulu Natal

2007-07-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

Newsletter July/August 2007
Strelitzia Trust
(Sofi)

Another fun filled couple of months, between strikes and fires we keep moving on………………………

Not much news on the hospice front, the strike has put us behind on moving things forward but people are still in discussion about it all.

On Friday I went to pick up Bonneni from Emmaus hospital where I had dropped him the week before, unable to walk and struggling with the system and TB to get him started on ARVs (Aids treatment). They managed to stabilise him and discharged him to go home to return this week to start the treatment.

As we drove back into the small township he lives in, there were 60km p/hr winds and a fire from hell blazing through the settlement. We eventually managed to get though to his home which was burning, there were metal roof panels and dust and flames flying all around us and the houses. His mother who had been asleep when the house burst into flames had run off on fire and we couldn’t find her, there were children and mothers running to get away from the fire……………

We started piling people into the car and taking them into Winterton. Everywhere we looked there were houses burning, after about 5 hours of taking people out to the local church we returned to try and find his mother, luckily she was found by paramedics and taken to hospital.

Bonneni organised and managed all the people coming through the church for help, clothing them, feeding them and comforting them, an angel in the midst of it all.

For three days we have been trying to get children back to their families and pick up the pieces, the white community got on board and have been cooking and bringing in food, blankets and clothes.

We must have clothed and fed more than 200 people. 15 houses were completely burned to the ground in the township and another 7 white farmers homes were destroyed.

9 people killed and one 3 month old, her mother still in hospital with horrific burns.

People not only lost their possessions and houses, but their identity documents and medical cards and treatments, the long term knock-on effect is huge.

Amongst all of this, farmers who wouldn’t assist their staff who had lost everything, and people pouring into assist in any way they could.

The polarity that exists here is incredible, the compassion and love and the total blindness and callousness all in one!

Forgiveness keeps coming through……………………

There have been offers of money, and support with the rebuilding is coming in, so now the clean up starts. In amongst it all, families who have lost everything squashed into a tiny hut 2m x 2m still smile and laugh.

In between we managed to put out fires at my place that were happening in the midst of it all and a birthday picnic for my son.

There is always enough…………………..

Strike SA

There has been a nationwide strike in SA for about 3 weeks, with angry political unions marching and threatening staff in hospitals, schools and other government institutions.

Schools and hospitals that were trying to keep going have been threatened verbally and physically by other teachers and nurses striking ringing the institution and threatening to come and beat them if they did not leave.

At the local hospital they came in by force and with sticks went around the hospital dragging out patients and staff alike and escorting them to the gates and kicking them out.

People who needed life saving treatment were dying in their homes, hospital beds and at the entrance to the hospital.

One Doctor stood inside the gates pleading with the strikers to let an incredibly sick man come in and be treated they refused outright and kept the gates locked, the man lay there for a few hours and died at the gates…………….

So just when you think the suffering can get any worse, mankind does it again…

In the midst of this I picked up peoples prescription cards and with the assistance of a pharmacist at the hospital I would sneak in and get peoples drugs. On one of my rounds I was asked to check on a young girl who was giving birth in hut, I went to the hut to find 5 old grannies sitting around the hut whilst the young girl lay in the corner in the throes of child birth ( I am not medically trained at all!) not knowing what to do I sat with her and talked to her and begged her to wait till the hospital was open Uhuh! The head was already showing, we rang the ambulance again who had already refused to come who said they would think about it, after an hour or so out it popped, screaming and well, just when you think you can’t do it, you just do.

Feeling quite good about myself and relieved it was all over, I realised there was the minor detail of the umbilical cord and the placenta, just as I was fretting over this the ambulance arrived and finished off. Mother and baby well for now.

Afterwards I found out she is HIV positive has a 2 year old not tested, no husband all her family have died, she had been visiting friends when she went into labour.

Life goes on.

News from Sofi- May June 07

2007-06-19T04:02:00.000-07:00

Newsletter May - June 2007

Aidshospice South Africa

Always something new I hear you say, do I ever actually complete something?

Yes always something new, as the context is changing daily and the insights I gain happen rapidly!

No I never do, other than when someone dies and there is no more to do for them, other than that there is nothing to complete but to keep helping in some small way

Still no news on the land bureaucracy rules!

Fantastic things happening in other areas, we have approached the local white churches who own a piece of land in Winterton the local town, which is easily accessible for all the local communities white and black.

A group of us who are working in different communities around this area have come together to try and pool our resources and skills to create a more holistic approach to the needs here, part of which would be to build a community centre that not only offers immediate response to the sick and dying in the form of a hospice/respite unit, orphan drop in centre, but also training, counselling, testing, career advice, employment opportunities, crafts and income generation.

The intention is to create a safe nurturing environment for diverse cultures to come together and start to build relationships that are not threatening, there is long way to go to breakdown the fears and habitual behaviours from apartheid.

There are new people arriving all the time with new skills and insights to make this happen.

John and Noreen from Australia have been here for about 4 weeks and have been training home base carers in massage and pain relief with much hilarity as the Zulus are not big on touch and particularly naked touch! Although they seem to have a natural flair for it.

They have both coped incredibly well with the work. They have gone through some very sad and painful walks with people dying and neglected but have stayed strong through it all.

We are getting closer to setting up a soup kitchen for the children in Amaswazi with the home base carers feeding the children initially in the mornings with a high protein and vitamin based porridge, a piece of fruit and milk. We are working on sourcing the food from the local community, we have a source for the fruit and porridge at this stage.

We are hoping that this will start to address the needless illness and malnutrition that is happening unnoticed, it will also allow us to identify children not at school, sick and with problems at home.

There is also a new family moved into the area that have set up a crèche and foster care for vulnerable children which is a huge need as there are no government facilities to assist these children and they are left in intolerable situations.

Whilst John was here from Australia he bought a new Mahindra 8 seater people carrier, we now can transport people in comfort and on mass which has made a huge impact, I thank you.

We are guided when we are open………………………….

After visiting an old man who has had a stroke in the local township in Winterton, we were about to jump in the car and leave.

An old well worn granny came to us from the maze of paths and houses and begged us to come and see her husband who was sick.

Off we went thinking we may have to take him to hospital or to see a Dr, on a tiny room with two beds a couple of blankets and not much else here was a curled up man 54 years old.

He was struggling to swallow and hadn’t been able to eat in a week. His knees were bent up under his chin and spasming from time to time. The room reeked of urine and other. He lay curled up calm and with a slight smile. He directed us to look at his knee which was bleeding from under his pants.

We managed to get his trousers off to give him a wash and try to clean him up a little. At this point we found an enormous open oozing wound on his knee, covered in maggots. It appeared he had hit it and not had it looked at. We finished washing the bottom half and his wound.

There were no clean cloths or blankets so we went to the local church and managed to find clean cloths and bedding.

Back we went thinking we would be able to change his bed and top and give him some comfort. AS we undressed the rest of him we turned him over to find that the whole bed was a sea of maggots, he had enormous bedsores all over his back.

We couldn’t clean him properly on the bed and as we looked around for a way to put him somewhere this amazing Lesotho man walked in with a smile and gentleness you could feel. He helped us with such tenderness to move him around and to change his bed and set it up for him.

We dressed his back wounds and lay him on a clean soft bed with clean blankets to keep him warm, the Lesotho man was there in the town for three days and he would wash and care for the old man.

We sat and prayed and held his hand until he fell asleep.

One man on one day for a few hours felt love, three strangers felt humility, love and understanding and God.

We visited two days later, he had died the next day RIP

Kids Outside

2007-06-08T17:34:00.001-07:00

Kids Singing in School

2007-06-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

Newsletter Feb -April 2007 from Sofi

2007-04-27T23:32:00.001-07:00

Aidshospice South Africa

Once again I am well overdue for a newletter…………………

Dominique and Billi two Australian volunteers came and went, they helped enormously, between acting as taxi driver to the multitudes needing to got to hospital and such like, writing sponsorship letters for a vehicle, typing and designing numerous CVs for youth and running madly round the valley asking the local businesses to assist with donations of any types of resources.

To that end we were donated a huge amount of crockery and towels from one hotel and 3 beautiful marked rugs from a local weaving business for the creche…..no doubt more will come as time goes on.

Mbongi’s: Still in the waiting period re the land but it is now with Pretoria for setting a court date to make the final decision as to exact rights and possible agreement to create separate title deeds for the piece Mbongi lives on.

The Amaswazi group of home based carers are flying, we meet weekly to discuss any problems they are having for themselves and their patients. Often community members come to raise issues they are facing regarding dealing with government departments, grants, food, health, fraudulent pension funds, fostering of orphans, the list is endless………

We are working less formally with two other groups in local areas.

Step by step we are making in-roads into workable systems with these government departments but like all things in this world people who have perceived positions of power like to lord it over the meek…………………

There is also the promise from a local company to start supplying food for up to 30 orphans that are in desperate need until they are organised with a more long term sustainable set up, then roll over to another 30, in Amaswazi alone we have 120+ orphans. The local white community are also starting to assist with the donations of clothes for these families.

We are also looking at how we can not only support, on a grass roots level, but also at district and provincial level as the gap is so huge and the need is not recognised outside of the community.

I am currently working on a campaign to involve and inform the white community as to the real situation in the surrounding communities we live in, needless to say not always the most popular person around town, but hey!

The health department is trying to respond to the need of people eating when they take their tablets, which is imperative if the tablets are to work for TB and HIV especially. To this end they have created a box of high protein, fortified food for one month at a time, the only downside is that the patients have to pick this up from the hospital and or clinics which can be 40km away with lots of walking in between, the average weight of the sick person is around 35-40kg and the box weighs in excess of 15kg……………………

So still plenty of issues around all of this and no doubt plenty of answers…………………..

One of the local churches has offered to supply food parcels through the Amaswazi home base carers to needy orphans and other sick and needy.

On to brighter news two more volunteers are due in May for up to 6 weeks, experienced masseurs and reflexologists. Hoping to get some training for the home based carers in basic pain relief and preventing bed sores etc through massage along with plenty of patients who need on going massage and physio type of treatment.

We also have a farm creche based in the volunteer block for 8 children from the adjacent farm run by Dudu who I have known for years. She has an amazing way with children and although uneducated herself is teaching them what basic English she knows, painting, drawing and gardening. She co-runs this with my 18 month old daughter Miya who already has the controlling personality of her mother………..

John who has been managing the funding that supports me is due for a week in May so hopefully he will get me refocused and organised again.

Again thank you all for your support, any questions or ideas you may have, please email me.
Regards
Sofi Cogley

Moses Interview

2007-04-14T02:13:00.001-07:00

Slideshow Part 2

2007-04-14T02:04:00.000-07:00

Slideshow Part 1

2007-04-14T01:55:00.001-07:00

Sofi Cogley Interview Part One 5mins

2007-04-14T00:05:00.001-07:00

Home Visit Kawzulu Natal

2007-04-13T23:51:00.000-07:00

A visit to a family home in the countryside.

Visit the Ancestor's House & Trailbike Fun

2007-04-13T23:45:00.000-07:00

South Africa April 2006: Future DJ Speaks

2007-03-03T22:14:00.000-08:00

South Africa April 2006: Hospice Yard

2007-03-03T21:54:00.001-08:00

Mr Maboso and Jack fix the car that was damaged on the road coming to the hospice.

South Africa April 2006: Mbongi & Jason

2007-03-03T21:40:00.000-08:00

South Africa April 2006 Driving the Highway

2007-03-03T19:13:00.000-08:00

Sofi Cogley Interview Part Two 8mins

2007-02-18T22:45:00.000-08:00

Sofi Cogley Interview Part One 5mins

2007-02-18T21:10:00.000-08:00

Shot in April 2006 with Sofi Cogley & Jason Soto at the Ardmore Cottages, Champagne Valley, Kawzulu Natal, South Africa.

Sofi explains the main ideas of the hospice project.