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Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System --------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 21 Apr 2004 Title: Home helps HIV and AIDS patients --------------------------------------------------------------- By Mgcobo Ngxukumeshe Umtata - Hope to live a better life has been restored among some people living with HIV and AIDS here in the Eastern Cape. Thanks to volunteers at Themba Community Services, some of the patients there are said to have regained their strength after receiving appropriate counseling and balanced diets with the proper nutritional value. Speaking at the start of a five-day AIDS training workshop here today, chairperson Lulu Boxoza said through the help of the 40 volunteers, the 20-bed centre had helped make a dramatic change in the patients' lives. According to Ms Boxoza, the patients were not kept at the centre on a permanent basis but were taken in by the time their health condition had deteriorated. "You must know that there are times when the CD4 count of a person living with HIV and AIDS is low, which makes the state of one's health very bad". She says it was through the efforts of the dedicated fulltime volunteers who only receive allowances on an occasional basis that the patients received proper care. However, Ms Boxoza conceded that not all the patients survived as 29 percent of them had succumbed to the deadly disease. One of the patients, Nontsikelelo Tungatha (34), was admitted at the center, pregnant, and unable to walk or talk. Though her twins passed away during birth, Ms Tungatha never gave up and was taken back to the centre and today she is stronger than before. "I can now eat, talk, walk and even run," she said, adding that she was now a different person than prior to her arrival at the Themba Community Services centre. She said many of those who knew her condition could not believe that she was today on her feet again, most amazingly going around the region facilitating AIDS training workshops. Ms Tungatha is now visiting other patients in hospitals, at their homes and at clinics to speak about the pandemic. She is also helping with counseling in an attempt to bring hope to those affected and infected. According to Ms Boxoza, certificates of attendance would be given to all the 40 participants and training covered counseling, treatment, nutrition and home-based care. - BuaNews |
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