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HILLCREST AIDS CENTRE TRUST
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The Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust is a holistic HIV/AIDS project which
was started in 1991. Since its inception, the Centre has attempted to
uplift the lives of those both infected and affected by HIV/AIDS
through practical and sustainable care. As new challenges and
opportunities have presented themselves, the Centre has adapted its
approach to addressing both the disease and the effects of it on the
community.
Projects now include:
- Voluntary Testing and Counselling - This
includes pre
and post test counselling as well as CD4 counts for all those who are
diagnosed positive.
- ARVT referral and monitoring - Any patients
with a
CD4 of 200 or below are referred for treatment - others are monitored
until they need referral.
- HIV/AIDS Education/life skills training - Done
in schools and businesses.
- Horticulture - This food garden project helps
people to establish and sustain a food garden at home.
- Home Based Care - Four registered nurses back
up 50
home-based care volunteers out in the field providing care at home to
people who are ill within the community.
- Respite Care Unit - This eight bed respite unit
is
where the Centre provides a home away from home to patients who are ill
and do not have a caregiver at home. It is a place for people to either
recover or die with dignity and love.
- Income Generation - Viewed by us as the most
fundamental aspect of the care programme as it uplifts people giving
them a reason to live. Our income generation project includes beadwork,
wirework, pottery, fabric painting, sewing, crochet, second hand
clothes and of course Little Travellers.
- Feeding scheme - This project is aimed at
getting
clients over a crisis, and not to create dependency. Food feeds the
body but does not raise self-esteem. The clients are put onto the
feeding scheme initially for six months. Assistance is given to access
government support and they are enrolled onto one of the income
generation projects.
- School fee project - This has children in
England
raising money to pay for school fees for children who have been
disadvantaged by the effects of HIV/AIDS here.
The Centre looks at each family and individual and tries to create a
package of care that suits them, with the knowledge that everyone's
needs or perceived needs are different. This way the physical,
emotional and spiritual needs of people are addressed. Most importantly
however, our mission is to provide unconditional love to members of our
community that are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
Woza Moya (Come Holy Spirit or
Come Change)
Woza Moya is an income generation project of the Hillcrest AIDS Centre
Trust. It helps those in need regain Hope and Dignity by getting them
to use their creativity to earn an income. At present Woza Moya acts as
an agent for over 200 crafters. As the AIDS epidemic increases more
families are turning to us for help and we assist them by offering
training in different crafts. Woza Moya markets the goods made and we
have a small shop which belongs to the crafters on the centre premises.
The project has proven that with the right care and access to
medication lives can be turned around. We have found that economic
empowerment is one of the most important factors in fighting this
epidemic because as it gives the crafters the luxury of looking to the
future. In doing so they take ownership of their disease and have
something to live FOR! The health benefits of this alone can never be
underestimated.
Featured Project: The Little
Travelers
SMALL DOLLS - BIG IMPACT
These dolls are symbols of hope because they have enabled beaders to
put food on the table, connect running water to their homes, make
electricity connections and purchase of essential items.
EACH
DOLL HAS A STORY TO TELL
The women who make these Little Travellers, love making these symbols
of hope. Each crafter gives each doll its own character, so each Little
Traveller is unique.
We have over 100 beaders who are either affected or infected by
HIV/AIDS and I can tell which women made which doll. When the beaders
go out or come in to the Centre, they wear their Little Travellers as
symbols of pride, hope and of what is possible.
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