Aids Care Centre

We have the Nobandla Project where HIV/AIDS affected and infected children are being accommodated. 12 children are being cared for in a two-bed roomed house. Most of them are aids-orphans. This project is done in co-operation with Round Table No. 8 Port Elizabeth and the Nobandla Home based Care Committee.

Activities and services rendered to project.

The following psychosocial needs of the children are being addressed in unique and family-centred methods :

• The physical needs of the children, ensuring that they have enough food, clothing and all the medicines they need. ( Our social worker (Tia Wessels) had to take a little boy of three to the clinic this past week to ensure that he gets all the medicines and vitamins he needs. He is HIV- positive and quite sick at the moment. He needs special food, medicine, care and love.)
• The emotional needs of children which include the need for love, security, encouragement, motivation, care, self-esteem, confidence, trust, security, sense of belonging, guidance, understanding, etc. underpin all other needs. Our social worker visits the children every week and assists the caregivers and provides training to the caregivers to enable them to meet the needs of these children.

• The mental needs of children which incorporate three aspects: formal education (schooling), informal education (opportunities for observational knowledge, adaptation skills (these support the child in order to be able to control the environment and access positive reinforcements) and general skills (life skills, general knowledge etc.) combined with the motivation and application to succeed. At the moment all the children are attending school. Their school progress are being monitored and help and advice given.

• Children’s social needs which include being involved in a community without feeling stigmatized or different, developing a sense of belonging, forming friendships and community ties, acceptance, identity, acknowledgement from peers, opportunities for social interaction.

• Children’s spiritual needs which enables them to develop a hope for their future. They also need to develop trust and security in their survival. This gives them hope, courage and perseverance to continue to trust.

• The social worker is in the process of investigating each child’s home circumstances with the possibility of a foster care or any other government grant.

State funding is slowly being made available for registered organizations that provide community-care for people affected or infected by HIV/AIDS. The importance of getting this facility ready for registration cannot be stressed enough, as it is only then that an application for a government subsidy can be made. Much assistance and help is needed.

The Social Worker will assist the caregivers and committee to apply for foster care grants or Child Support Grants. Foster care grants will mean that each child will have to be involved in a Children’s Court Inquiry and official placement in the care of one of the caregivers living with them.

Application to the National Lottery Trust Fund will also be made once registration has taken place. There is a waiting period of two years after registration as an NPO and when there are audited financial statements for two years. This can only happen next year.

MOTHERWELL. We have been offered two houses in Motherwell as part of a National programme by USAID, Nedbank and the Department of Social Development, to open two foster care homes where HIV/AIDS affected and infected children can be accommodated in a very homely atmosphere. Round Table agreed to be a partner in this venture.