Please pray for Steven

Those of you who have been following the blog for some time will know Steven Dax, who is one of the After School volunteers. He's a member of the community who started at the ASP in September 2006 because there were a number of children attending who were doing Khoekhoe, Steven's home language, at school. He was a great help to them, and has stayed involved ever since.

Steven was involved in a car accident last Tuesday (9th June) when the (drunk) driver of a car he was travelling in overcorrected after swerving onto the wrong side of the road and rolled the car. Steven was thrown out of the car (he was riding in the back of a bakkie - ute/truck) and broke something in his neck.

(None of the other three people in the car was seriously injured, one of them was Eliot from our church who has also volunteered at the ASP in the past. We are thankful that he only had minor injuries and has healed well.)

Steven was operated on over the weekend and does not now have any pain. However, the doctors are saying that there is only a small chance he will walk again. He currently has feeling in his legs but cannot move them, also is unable to sit up yet. He has been transferred from the hospital to a medical centre for intensive physiotherapy and is trying to keep a very positive attitude and do all he can to regain the use of his legs.

Please pray with us for Steven, and for us as we really want to encourage and support him through whatever lies ahead.

Otjiwarongo meeting

Last Saturday I was in Otjiwarongo, a town about 300kms north-west of Windhoek, for a meeting about a community-based HIV-AIDS group.

Tangee (right) facilitates discussion while I record everything on the laptop!

EBCAIDS has been talking to the EBC members in Otjiwarongo about starting some work in HIV-AIDS, but since Otjiwarongo, although a fair-sized town, is a small community, it seemed sensible to find out what other churches and organizations are doing in the area of HIV and AIDS.

Members of one of the AOG churches (left, with Jogbeth) livened up the singing time

We had some good discussions with the EBC members and members of two other churches. It was agreed that the Otjiwarongo people will organize another meeting from the platform of the local Pastors Forum, which includes more than 10 churches, so that the possibility of coordinating and networking the church-based HIV-AIDS ministries can be fully explored.

Some EBC Otjiwarongo members

A group from our church went up for the whole weekend to meet with and encourage our members in Otjiwarongo, although Jimmy, the girls and I only went for the day on Saturday. By all accounts everyone enjoyed the time together.

Training part 2

16 people are now successfully trained in Home Based Care…and two of them have already said they will join the Program as caregivers!

The rest of the training program went well, covering the principles and activities involved in HBC, how to manage common symptoms at home, counselling and more on HIV-AIDS (the stages of HIV infection, social issues that affect people living with HIV and AIDS, and information on anti-retroviral drugs – the treatment for HIV).

Vespa talking about the links between HIV, TB and STIs

The trainees also got to do role plays on treating different symptoms or illnesses and some of them put considerable dramatic talent into their performances, making it entertaining as well as educational.

Olga, Ingrid and Lazarus (role play)

Nambee, Panii and Patience (role play)

Sadly Patience, one of the community participants, couldn’t join us for the last day as her aunt (who was staying with her) was very ill on the Sunday and then passed away early on the Monday morning. That’s why HBC is so relevant, this is happening to people every day. Jogbeth and a few others from the training dropped in to see Patience after the training had finished and she was very happy for the encouragement and support.

We’re still trying to contact the relevant people on a community and regional level to be registered as an AIDS Service Organisation and a Home Based Care provider, so your prayers will be appreciated for that!