Day four - All hands on deck...

Day four began with a trip to the Bhubezi Community Healthcare Centre. Bhubezi is a rural ‘one stop shop healthcare clinic’ established in 2007 by USAID, the South African government, Anglo Coal, Virgin Unite and the Dutch social entrepreneur, Dr Hugo Templeman. Joni from Pride ‘n Purpose briefed us all during the ride over to the clinic on what to expect.

Upon arrival, the general manager, Kgmotso, greeted us with open arms. It was inspiring to see the dedication that the staff of the clinic have despite the enormous task of treating all of the patients. The three main diseases that they treat on a regular basis are HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The visit to Bhubezi brought to life the challenges of providing medical care to rural communities in South Africa. We learned that the big challenges the clinic is working to overcome are the cultural and religious beliefs rural people hold. Their beliefs often mean that they seek medical attention at late stages in their diseases. Once treatment is sought out, the clinic works hard to diagnose and treat each and every patient and to ensure that they receive the psychological preparation for the results that they may receive. It was an eye-opening visit for all of us.

After the visit to Bhubezi we headed back to all the excited children at Mahluhluvana Primary School. The group divided and conquered to make sure that all the jobs would be finished before we leave on Friday.

- The mural team made the final touches making sure the mural was ready for project hand print tomorrow. (We should add – the mural is an incredible sight to see from both the football pitch and the road!)
- The school’s Assistant Principal, Nelson, and the environmental team supervised as the gardening team planted more seeds including onions and tomatoes. We were also taught by the students how to plant shade trees. We took part in this at the front of their school. The students were brilliant at showing us what to do. We can’t wait to hear all about the progress the trees make in the next few years – Nelson told us they grow two meters a year!
- After successfully assembling the swing set yesterday the team noticed there were some spare tyres and resourcefully dug the tyres into the ground and painted them making them an extra play area for the kids. From the looks of the kids leap frogging across the tyres, the extra play area got the thumbs up.
- Project pimp my football pitch began today when the lovely Armando welded the football posts together. Under the mid-day sun, the football pitch team got to work and set the posts into the ground. The schools new sports field has really started to take shape. Tomorrow a nearby school is coming to play football against our school’s team – make sure you tune in tomorrow to get the result.

After a long day’s work we all headed back to our house in Ulusaba’s staff village for a well-deserved braii! And back to the braii we must go…signing out for what was a memorable day four.