Humbled, as always, by our local colleagues

Our nascent study, tentatively called “Drakenstein Child Health Study” (not too catchy – suggestions are welcome!) will be in the Drakenstein valley, an area with rural areas and farms (wine growing) and some urban areas. I went out to spend the day with Jenni, our anthropologist who did the first stage of the community engagement and meet some of our colleagues out there.

We visited Emporium of Care, which I described last time, Drakenstein Hospice and a local pediatrician’s farm.

Drakenstein Hospice is an NGO in transition. It traditionally provided classic hospice care – helping people die with dignity and trying to alleviate their suffering as much as possible. In the pre-ARV era AIDS was a universally fatal disease causing great suffering and hospices were crucial parts of the care. But today with increasing access to ARVs, Drakenstein Hospice is finding that the needs are changing and so the leaders, Elizabeth and Maria, are working to open Butterfly House – that will support people living with HIV / AIDS. Income generation, day care, pre-school, education, food supplementation & nutritional education are all planned as part of this new program.

They’ve invited me to spend more time with them, and I think that will be a great opportunity to learn more about the community we’ll be working in.