Today’s visit to HACT and then to a Gogo (grandmother) support group (one of 47 supported by HACT) made me feel both angry and sad about the inequalities in the world. I feel angry at gender inequality; several of these gogos had husbands who were seriously abusive and wouldn’t give them money, and the women are happy that many of the husbands have now passed away. Young women, the highest growing incidence of new HIV infections, are often depending on older men to pay their bills and put food on the table. These men (and the young women dependent on them) have normalized having multiple relationships, and the men generally refuse to get tested for HIV. When the women test positive for HIV they are blamed. And I feel angry at the economic equalities in the world – all those millionaires and billionaires who could change people’s lives and hardly feel a dent in their bank accounts, but don’t. ☹
HACT is a truly amazing place, in operation for 35 years, with a brilliant woman CEO from Abbotsford BC (!), 105 paid staff members and 50 volunteers making great things happen in the “Valley of 1000 Hills” north of Durban. This was, and still is, pretty much the epicentre of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. Their annual budget is 20 million rands (about $1.6 million); a government grant for palliative care covers about 5% of that and the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) contribution covers another 5%. They also get funding from local schools, churches, corporations, individuals and events (they are one of the six official charities for the annual Comrades Marathon, a 90K race from Pietermaritzburg (where we’re going tomorrow) to Durban: comrades.com/.) For many years HACT did not meet the criteria for PEPFAR funding but they were finally in the pipeline, which would have helped greatly to expand their funding, when PEPFAR was cancelled. They commented that there is a geopolitical trend towards “introspection” (taking care of your own) for funding that is hurting them. And they do so much good with what they receive! Recently, they met and went through every one of their programs to see if they still matched their stated vision and they couldn’t find a single thing to cut.
HACT is self described as “a place where love and hope transform lives”. Their vision is empowered, healthy and AIDS-free communities. And their stated values are passion, faith, integrity, Ubuntu and empowerment. The heart of their organization is Othandweni (place of love) where they offer palliative and respite care in a 24-bed unit with a waiting list. 34 staff members help 250 – 300 patients per year in this unit and through home-based care. Most of their patients have end stage cancer (there are VERY few oncologists and long waiting lists in the public system in South Africa) or HIV or both. The beautiful stained glass photo below is in the room where they take people to die. There is one full-time staff member who stays with the dying who have no family or loved ones to be there for them. On World AIDS day every year, they hold a ceremony in the peaceful garden surrounding the clinic and light a candle for every person who died of AIDS since the previous year. On December 1, 2024, they lit 71 candles. The 71st death happened during the ceremony. (That number is finally decreasing again since COVID caused it to rise significantly.)
In addition to this clinic, their other programs include b) support for orphans and vulnerable children (psycho-social support, medication adherence coaching, gender-based violence prevention training, holiday and leadership camps, home visits and assessments and family counselling), c) training programs in primary schools, high schools and post-secondary institutions (they reach 2000 girls annually and have recently started a boys program to help them turn toxic masculinity into healthy masculinity), d) family support and parenting workshops, e) award-winning income generation projects – a café that serves coffee and snacks to the fairly affluent community surround the centre and helps to take away the stigma, huge gardening spaces where individuals can have a garden plot and training (they make their own compost and pots and propagate plants to get new ones), a sewing building and a haberdashery, loads of crafts and currently 400 crafters (they have a bead store and lots of beading going on, glass and plastic being recycled into art), two stores where they sell their crafts to the public, a used books and magazine store and a thrift store. Youth unemployment is staggeringly high. HACT hires between 10 and 20 young interns at all times. They help with the Cafe, monitoring and evaluation, driving, events and nursing care, learning both work skills and social skills and gaining confidence and hope.
We drove to the home of Mildred, the chairperson of the Gogo support group “Snethemba” (Hope) where we had lunch with the Gogos and did lots of singing and dancing. Mildred’s granddaughter also danced for us. We met special guest Ma Cwengi, who was in Toronto in 2006 at the gathering that started it all, and who came back to South Africa and started the first Grandmother support groups. In the photo she is with Phetsile (in red), the HACT staff member who leads a group of six staff whose job is it to monitor the 47 support groups and run an annual Gogolympics! In the Gogolympics they play netball, soccer, and basketball and do relay races and traditional games. Training for these games teaches them about exercise and keeps them fit. The Snethemba group sews, beads, does gardening, makes household cleaners (their dream is to get a sponsor who can help with bottles and labels so they can sell them in the supermarket), has a savings club, and looks out for one another. Look hard at the photo of them all in their lime green shirts – all of the decorating on their skirts and blouses and hats and ears and wrists and necks is beads! It was hard to say goodbye today. We promised them we will keep up our fund-raising and “we will not rest until they can rest”.
