World Aids Day 2008

06.12.08

       
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YABONGA'S DIRECTOR ADDRESSES WORLD AIDS DAY AUDIENCE

Good morning everybody.

This year is a very significant year for Yabonga as we are entering our 10th year of working in the poorest communities of Cape Town.

Many of you will not know this, but when Ursel landed in Cape Town 10 years ago, as she marvelled at the wonder of Table Mountain, she also wondered at the discrepancy between the communities living on Table Mountain and the communities who live along the road from the airport.

Out of this concern, Yabonga was born, with never a thought or dream that this is where we would be 10 years later.

There are a few people who have been our supporters ever since inception, and we want to applaud them here today.

Firstly to the group of volunteers in Germany and Austria who are our constant cheerleaders and fundraisers; to the group of Cape Town volunteers who rallied together to get the programme off the ground when we had no budget and 16 abandoned children in 1999; then to the current volunteers who are always on call to attend to the little things that make our days so much easier; to the W Cape Department of Health; and particularly Dr Fareed Abdullah, who encouraged and guided us through our initiation to the scourge of HIV and AIDS.

We would have loved to show off to him today, how far we have grown since the first R200 000 that he raised for us. He has recently taken up a position at the Global Fund and we are sure that he will use his influence to direct funding to Southern Africa where we continue to have the highest HIV statistics in the world.

Then to all our partners in business, in the private sector, and in the communities, we could not do what we do without you at our sides.

I have the privilege of working with a very devoted and committed team of directors. You do not see them around Yabonga much, but these are the individuals who are my source of motivation, especially as I lose steam when challenges seem insurmountable and funding is insufficient.

Thank you to Maria Ramos, David Barnes, Francesca Johnson, Jeanette Masala and especially Ursel.

This year has highlighted many positives in our programmes.

We can confidently report that the 1000’s of HIV positive women who attend our support groups are now sufficiently informed of HIV to enable them to take informed decisions concerning their health.

This is a far cry from when we started with our first group of women in 2000, who without exception believed that a HIV positive test result meant imminent death. Now we have 100 HIV positive peer educators who are role models not only in the work they do, but by the example they set to others in their communities. They are pictures of health and the best examples of the benefits of having adopted positive lifestyle changes.

They are yet to convince me that they are well enough to become mothers again, but that is a discussion for another day.

During this year we have also made the most unexpected strides in our men’s programme. From having a trickle of men who were mostly partners to our women, attending our support groups, we have shown the biggest percentage growth in this area.

We are also so very proud of our 10 Yabonga male peer educators who have encouraged their clients to move from men only groups, to mixed groups. This can only be a positive thing when men and women can openly discuss matters that concern them jointly without any fear of retribution.

It is also comforting to hear when the men especially feel well enough to take up employment and live full lives again. This can only benefit the family at large, and especially the children who seem to be the biggest sufferers of the AIDS pandemic.

The tavern programme continues to amaze us with the interest we get from the regular tavern goers. An interesting adjustment from our side is that when we started doing HIV education in the communities, invitations came from churches for us to address the congregation on Sundays. Nowadays we find Sunday mornings to be the best times to be doing education in the taverns!!

Probably our biggest success for 2008, was the community mother programme.

We could not have had the same impact on the 385 children whom we supported without the assistance of these women. This success has motivated us to double the number of community mothers that we will support in 2009.

Today will be a proud day for them as they celebrate as the first group of Yabonga trained community mothers. Congratulations and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for opening your homes to our children.

Reduced funding resulted in no training of new peer educators and limited growth into new areas during this year, but we are thankful to the team who stretched themselves to serve the new centres at Kuyasa, Nyanga, Mfuleni and Strand without any additional team members.

We are so acutely aware of the hours that you put in beyond the contract for which you are paid.

During this year we did however take the opportunity to update all areas of our training, and again we are confident to announce that our peer educators, youth counsellors and lay counsellors have the most up to date HIV information on the tips of their tongues.

It is therefore no surprise to us when our staff are often pouched by other organisations. Even though it hurts initially when we do lose staff, we have only had good experiences from individuals who leave us and continue to sing our praises in the field. Then we know we must be doing something right.

Our children’s projects have again exploded in numbers and it is incredibly difficult when we have to restrict our youth counsellors to accepting only the neediest of needy.

We are only too aware that all children who present themselves to us are critically needy and we are also aware that often our budgets stretch to accommodate more children than our records show. From reading the weekly reports from the fieldworkers, it is easy to focus on numbers, but the more frightening reality is the severity of the challenges that our children face. We are so thankful to the youth counsellors, the community mothers, the teachers, the carers and the organisations that specialize in child trauma. Our work with the orphans and vulnerable children would be impossible if we did not have you as partners.

The Yabonga youth has been identified as a group requiring intensive care, and during 2009 we will venture towards creating ‘youth clinics’ where we will create safe and friendly spaces for our youth to address the many issues that trouble their young lives.

We realise that in-house, we may not have the skills to address all the issues, and again we will be seeking out partners who share our vision in creating a generation free of HIV, and full of hope and enthusiasm for the future. If we are to prosper as a nation, we have to ensure that our youth and children survive this onslaught.

It is unacceptable that the HIV statistics is on the increase amongst our younger people, despite their personal experiences of loss and suffering through HIV, and despite the fact that they certainly are very, very HIV educated.

We have to collectively address the issues that cause our young people who make such reckless life choices. We will certainly be looking to government for direction.

It has been a pleasure working with our preschools Thandabantu, Zamukhanyo and Sunrise.

Again when Ursel and I started out 10 years ago, it was not easy trying to focus on educational programmes when clearly more pressing needs included nutrition, health care, etc.

Today we are proud that our preschools are the beacons of excellence in preschool education in their communities. It is a pleasure to walk into any of the classrooms where trained teachers are busy presenting well thought out activities with a clear understanding of the educational benefits thereof. This year our volunteers again raised the required sponsorships to send all our Grade R children to Grade 1 in smart uniforms and with fully equipped school bags.

It was a particular thrill to be associated with the building of the new Capricorn Primary School in Vrygrond. This is one of the first communities that Yabonga formed a partnership with. More than 5 years ago Yabonga established additional classrooms at Sunrise so that the Grade R’s could be separated from the rest of the creche. This contributed greatly to the preparedness of these children for primary school.

Yabonga was also involved in placing these children at neighbouring primary schools. A few years ago Vrygrond children had to cross major highways to attend school every day. This year they opened their very own school and we are very proud to have been a part of this team.

In conclusion, 2009 is going to present some very interesting challenges.

Yabonga is losing its project manager and will not be filling this position. It has always been our desire that Yabonga must be run by the people from within. This is our opportunity to test our readiness. We have developed an outstanding team of people. We are so excited to have a few registered UNISA students in our midst.

Ana, Emily, the fieldworkers, and the team leaders will collectively take the responsibility of taking Yabonga into our next 10 years. We wish you well.

Finally, congratulations to all who will be receiving certificates for having completed Yabonga training during 2008. We are so proud of each one of you.

On behalf of the directors and management of Yabonga, we thank each one of you for your commitment to the work you do.

It is now time to wind down, take time out for yourself, for your family and for your children.

I’m sure you’d want me to extend your thanks to our chairman David Barnes for his generosity which will allow us to pay out bonuses next week.

We wish you a happy and safe holiday and look forward to having you all back in 2009.

Thank you for your attention.

Ulpha Robertson
Director