| Sinikithemba
Choir tours
Giving us hope - McCord Hospital's Sinikithemba
Choir tours the US McCord Hospital's Sinikithemba
Choir, which is made up of 21 singers affected
by HIV/AIDS, toured the east coast of the USA
in November 2002 during a three-week sponsored
concert series to raise funds for the AIDS programme
of the Church World Services in Africa.
The Choir performed with four musicians, including
the Grammy Award winner Tim Janis, in New York
City, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Philadelphia and Washington DC. "This tour
followed the successful 'Symphony of Hope' fundraising
concert held in Durban earlier in 2002",
said Dr Helga Holst, Medical Superintendent of
McCord Hospital. She said the choir's performances
would help to "put a human face to the HIV/AIDS
crisis in our country, and show how those affected
by the epidemic can be empowered by love and acceptance."
The Sinikithemba HIV/AIDS Christian Care Centre,
established in 1996, is based at McCord Hospital
in Overport, Durban, and offers a comprehensive
programme of health for HIV/AIDS patients, including
social work services, counselling, training, pastoral
and medical care, income generation projects and
anti-retroviral treatment as appropriate. The
Centre's Director, Mrs Nonhlanhla Mhlongo, explains
that people living with HIV/AIDS are an under-served
community who need help in all aspects of their
lives.
"We offer our clients pre- and post-test
as well as bereavement counselling, support groups,
information on welfare-related matters, options
for treatment and physical monitoring," she
says. "Our skills training project gives
destitute patients the chance to become productive
through beadwork, sewing and wirework - although
finding suitable markets for their goods is an
ongoing challenge."
However, there is growing demand for Sinikithemba's
work, not only in terms of patient and community
care - which includes the running of feeding schemes
for impoverished households affected by HIV/AIDS
- but also by churches and industries who benefit
from its counselling training programme.
There is also increasing support offered to the
Centre by ordinary citizens and different sectors
in KZN, more recently around the Choir's concert
tour, which was sponsored by the Church World
Services and a Swiss funder. East Coast Radio
promoted a clothing drive to ensure that the singers
would have enough warm items for their journey.
"The response was wonderful," said Dr
Holst. "The public donated so much clothing
that we were able to meet all the Choir members'
needs and provide the remainder of the clothes
collected to very poor patients and their families."
The radio station reports having received over
400 e-mail messages from members of the public
offering help.
Dr Holst went along with the group on the tour,
not only to provide medical care if necessary,
but also to establish links with AIDS-care centres
at Harvard University in Boston and Yale University
in New Haven. Her trip was funded by HIVAN as
part of its Job Shadow Programme. "We hope
to be able to twin our Sinikithemba Centre with
those at Yale and Harvard in order to share expertise,
resources and materials through regular exchange
programmes, " she explained.
Understandably, there has been great joy about
the concert tour and the release of the Symphony
of Hope concert CD. The Choir returned to
the US in February 2003 to sing at the opening
of the International AIDS Conference in Boston
and a second CD is being pressed. For a number
of the Choir members as individuals, these experiences
have given them the confidence to disclose their
HIV status. The work of Sinikithemba offers hope
at many levels, and people throughout KZN pray
for and take pride in the Choir's mission.
For more information about HIVAN's Job Shadow
Programme:
E-mail: hivan@hivan.org.za
Tel: 27 (0) 31 268 5809
Fax: 27 (0) 31 209 8883
Postal: HIVAN, P O Box 37587 Overport,
KwaZulu-Natal, 4067
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