I am creating a website for the Sizanani Outreach Programme (SOP.) Once I am done, they will edit/approve the content and I will post the site when I return to the USA (internet is too slow to do it here.) In writing the content, I have been reading, reading, reading… mostly reports that they have written for various grants. The work that Sizanani has done in this community in the past five years is so impressive. Here are some stats:Since its beginning, SOP has trained 49 care givers from the local community in home based care. Six of these care givers have also been trained to facilitate peer education programmes; 14 were trained to perform voluntary HIV/AIDS counseling and testing (VCT/HCT); two completed auxiliary training in social work; 27 were trained to take affidavits, and 68 were trained in memory box work. Training and employing individuals from the community has a direct benefit in the community where unemployment rates are estimated to be greater than 90 percent.
To date, SOP has served 6,523 clients of which 3,417 are under the age of 17; 756 are orphans; 66 families are designated as child headed households; 330 are growing up in grandparent headed households.
In 2009, the SOP staff conducted 12,853 home visits. The staff also provided 1,573 clients with voluntary counseling and of those, 923 clients were tested for HIV/AIDS. Two SOP social workers placed 50 children in foster care, providing security to children who had been orphaned or who had been abused. 549 clients on antiretroviral treatment were monitored monthly at five primary health clinics by the SOP medical doctor (Sr. Ellen.)
38 child-headed family homesteads were renovated to ensure safer, more secure living conditions for these children who are particularly vulnerable to violence and exploitation. The SOP provided lunch to more than 3,500 children in the community through food programmes at four local schools in 2009.
Client families received 1,475 food parcels during the year. In addition, SOP staff helped these families secure the legal documents they need to access support from the local government (e.g. foster care grants, child support grants, disability grants, and old age grants) in order to develop a secure, sustainable source of income.
SOP supported four school gardens, a community garden, and the installation of 12 new family gardens in 2009.
In addition, the Sizanani Child Care Centre is home to 30 orphans and vulnerable children (OVC’s.) The SOP seeks to place children in traditional homes whenever possible. However, some children in the community are particularly hard to place in foster care due to medical needs, physical disabilities, psychological trauma, or other special needs.
