| December 2007 |
St. Lucia Newsletter |
Issue 2 |
St. Lucia Hospice and Orphanage
+255.784.611892
stlucianursinghome@yahoo.com
| A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR:
Welcome to Issue 2 of our newsletter. The last quarter has been a very busy and productive period. Many
thanks to donors, friends and everyone for your support, volunteering and words
of encouragement. I would like to give a warm welcome to our four new staff
members to join efforts at St. Lucia family and am so pleased to explain in
brief the activities accomplished and our success in our five programs; |
| ST. LUCIA ORPHANAGE:
Moving to the
new house was very exciting and a rewarding step towards fulfilling the goal of
sustainability. The house has adequate accommodations for children and
playgrounds for physical development and vocational activities for our children
and rehabilitation of improved adult patients. The new house s now
accommodating 20 orphans living with HIV/AIDS, 6 adults terminally ill due to
chronic disease including HIV/AIDS. We should remember that our efforts are
still to serve the patients at large in the community in their homes, and those
admitted at St. Lucia are those very critically ill, poor and discriminated or
those abandoned in the street, government hospitals, and in their homes. |
SUSTAINABLE ACTIVITIES:
| In May 2007 we received support from the government through RFA, and three cows were provided, among our three cows we had two of them give birth to two female calves, which has sustained the home with milk for children and patients and we look forward to having income generation activities through this program. |
 |
VEGETABLE GARDEN/CHICKEN
PROJECT:
| Due to scarcity of water in the new land, it has been very difficult to raise the gardens, however, we are working hard, with few water available to raise seed plants to sustain the home with vegetable, fruit trees, corns and beans, we hope with more water we can grow more food and help train the people living with HIV/AIDS on how they can sustain themselves with small gardens and earn some money from the gardens as well as having nutritious food. |
WE ARE HONORED TO
WELCOME IN THE HOME:
| John Bosco Male, age 18 months
John was a referred case from Mt. Meru government hospital through their social department, he was living with his great-grand mother who was very old and lives in poverty. His condition was very serious from severe pneumocytis carinii, malnutrition and failure to thrive with weight of 4 kg. The chest infection is now controlled and he has gained weight to 4.5 kg. |
 |
| Isaac Matalany - Male, age 10 months
He was admitted with his mother who is very sick and in fourth stage of Aids. The admission diagnosis was chronic chest infection and failure to thrive with weight of 3.3 kg. He is not breast fed since birth, he is mother attended to prevent mother to child transmission. St. Lucia Nursing Home staff is working very hard to save both lives. |
 |
SUCCESS STORIES:
These are stories of success after admitting children who were in critical conditions previous months ago, and due to good nursing
care and proper nutrition they are now doing fine.
|
Joachim Male, age 3.6 yrs
He was admitted last quarter with serious malnutrition and unable to walk, due to holistic care and adherent to ART management with physical therapy, we are very happy that he has started to walk and in good health. |
 |
|
Mercy Kundaeli Female, age 10 yrs.
It was very promising and successful when Mercy visited her family, who stays about 35 miles away from St. Lucia Nursing home, as since she was referred to our home from Good hope orphanage after testing HIV positive. For about three yrs no one has visited her. She finally met her grandmother and sister, and other family members, we hope this will support her psychologically and makes her happy in life and pursue well in her studies. |
 |
| Cecilia Wilbard Female, age 9 yrs
Admitted in May with severe illness of bowel infections and obstruction, she has now improved under different medical referrals and proper nutrition, she has now gained weight from 14 kg to 16.5kg. |
| Baby Connie (Ashura Rashid) Female, age 3.5 yrs
She was admitted 2 yrs ago, with failure to thrive, her both parents died due to Aids, She suffered stigma and discrimination, she was brought to St.Lucia with a uncle who was willing to care for her but also had to care for Connie father who was critically ill in his home, it was very hard for uncle wife to accept this burden. Connie has been in our hands for two and seven month, she was tested for HIV in November 2007, and she is HIV negative. After good counseling the uncle of Connie has accepted to stay with baby Connie, and St.Lucia staff, will continue to visit and provide assistance needed so that she will continue going to school, help her grieve, so that she can become a healthier adult.
|
| HOME-BASED CARE:
This program is intended to provide education to the community on HIV prevention, sensitization and provision of condoms, and HIV testing. More education is needed in rural Arusha and referrals in accessing care and treatment including social needs. The following are achievements in our activities;
|
SCHOOL SUPPORT:
Moody
Ramadhan Male, age 5 yrs
He was in the first newsletter, announced for having need of sponsorship, and was very happy that he got support and now attending school.
Ali
Salum Male, age 4.5 yrs
The boy is a son of Hamida Salum, Age 30 yrs who is HIV positive and she is living in severe poverty, among many other social needs, she has children who are not going to school. We managed to refer one of his sons Ali 4.5 yrs to the nearby school for school support and were admitted.
During this quarter, we have successfully managed to refer 34 most vulnerable children who are in the age of starting school, in a public primary schools, and we have worked with community leaders to excuse this children with school payments, and we have networked with other NGO, who are providing school materials e.g., uniforms, so that they can start school in January. The community health workers will make follow-up, to make sure that this children are attending school. |
|
St. Lucia has successfully managed to distribute bedding, mosquito nets, cleaning materials to most vulnerable children and patients in the two wards of Arusha and Arumeru districts aiming to reach 120 people, who live in difficult circumstances and are infected with HIV/AIDS. This activity intended to help minimize cross infections and thus reduce opportunistic infections such as malaria, tuberculosis and others. Health education of proper handling of food, proper use of toilet, hand washing, and importance of having enough air, and discourage keeping cattle in the house, has been taught in the Maasai families.
|
 |
 |
 |
| The group of 18 people living with HIV from Moshono Ward, HAS JOINED TOGETHER and formulated a chicken project to help them sustain their nutrition and a source of income generation activities. The project will involve the local authority and community in general. The experience from this group will help the second group of PLHAS to establish the same income generative activities and thus continue helping themselves and others in the family. |
|
St. Lucia was visited by the director of Pamoja project in September 07, she met 16 community health workers of St. Lucia, and from the lesson learned through working in the community a refresher training was planned to be in January 2008 for community health workers working in Baraa and Moshono ward, nurses of St. Lucia nursing Home, and the main focus of this training will be in community involvement, mobilization and sensitization in solving community social problems of patients and most vulnerable children's. |
WORLD AIDS DAY:
|
St.Lucia Nursing Home and Orphanage Executive Director, Winfrida Mwashala RN, was invited at Ms tcds (Danish) college Arusha to provide creation awareness speech on HIV/AIDS to the staff and course participants at the college, this included the sensitization of HIV TESTING. She explained the theme of this year, and she sadly explained that today worldwide there are 33.2 million people who are infected with HIV, 2.5 MILLION newly HIV infected people ,and 2.1million died to Aids ,it is very sad that in Tanzania the infection rate is 7% for the number of people attended in testing units. There is a highly need of people to act towards changing of behavior to themselves and speak to their families, and they shouldn't take HIV as political, government or NGO, RESPONSIBILITY.
It begins with you and not only going for HIV test, but we as community, parents, what are we doing with street children, orphans, and patients? Are we the cause of more pains to these people? She co-facilitated with one PLHA who gave his testimonial. The principal of the college announced that the college has good programs for those who will identify themselves HIV positive, and it is within their policy to provide secrecy and support to HIV infected staff.
The same 1/12/2007 St. Lucia staff (Nurses and community health workers) conducted a meeting and 123 people attended, 90 females, 33 males. Due to good education, 30 people voluntarily agree to test and 400 condoms were distributed. There is still great need of condoms in our community as not many people can afford buying condoms. |
DAY CARE PROGRAM:
| St Lucia has just established a day care program for children living with HIV/AIDS, reaching 30 children in Arusha urban and Arumeru district.
The goal of this project is to;
1. Help the grandmothers with the burden of caring for the many orphans they have in their homes.
2. Provide preliminary education to these children and later refer them to public and primary schools.
3. Monitor their health with adherent to ART management, have their CD4 count Checked, and help them in grieving.
4. Provide holistic care to this children and psychosocial counseling to their Families and guardians.
5. Provide education of HIV/AIDS to these children, counseling and help them live positively with HIV/AIDS. |
HOSPICE CARE:
| Poverty and lack of adequate knowledge in caring for patients with chronic diseases is the major cause of stigma and discrimination, despite working hard educating the community on stigma reduction and how to care for patients in the families there still abandoned patients left in government hospitals, and in the community. This quarter seven patients who were in fourth stage of Aids referred from different government hospitals was admitted, due to good nursing and palliative care management six of them improved and are in rehabilitation unit, were very sad to announce the death of AMINA (BABY) MOLLEL, age 30 yrs.
She was left alone in the hospital in the fourth stage of Aids with diagnosis of meningococcal meningitis, which interfered with her neurological ability, despite being on ART, and fluconazole regimen and other medical and nursing care, she died on the hands of St. Lucia there was no one to take the dead body, we worked with spiritual leaders, community leaders for her funeral. We will always keep her in our prayers and our loving memory, May God rest her soul in peace Amen.
 |
|
