End of Year Newsletter 2022

The Recovery Programme has been consistently reaching record numbers of clients each month in 3 new geographic areas! We are so thankful for the recovery stories of former clients that add to our “word of mouth” marketing, leading to increased client attendance. We are encouraged to see so many people graduating, maintaining sobriety, finding employment, and reconciling with their families. The many clients that find Jesus as their personal savior are always a highlight of the programme.

This year we were blessed to expand the offerings of the Life Skills program with small groups of pre-teens and teens meeting together for 12 weeks to complete a character study about the issues of gender-based violence, puberty, and HIV. We are very hopeful to launch twice as many of those groups next year and to start our first groups for teen boys. We trust God that these groups will positively impact rates of HIV and teenage pregnancy. You can be praying for these “Cherish” and “Dare” groups next year and be on the look out for updates to come!

The job of the Family Strengthening programme is to connect and support pregnant mothers and young families through their pre-natal, ante-natal and parenting journeys. We are able to reach these families through the Children’s Early Intervention Drug Programme and courses such as Protective Behaviours, Grief and Loss Support Groups, Health Awareness, and the First Thousand Days Programmes. Over 120 parents and children are graduating from these courses, outreaches, classes and programmes each month! We also give practical help with accessing social grants, birth certificates, IDs and food support where possible. Over 400 mothers are being reached monthly through our Crisis Pregnancy Counselling network.

At the Harvest Training Initiative, we are so excited that our shade net structure is finished and that our first ever tractor was gifted to us! This means we are able to grow even more vegetables, better utilizing the land God has entrusted to us. We have started planting seasonal vegetable seeds and will have bountiful harvest over the next few months. We are marketing our vegetables, raw honey and duck eggs to the public in order to become even more self-sustaining as we train up future farmers.

At the Health Care Centre the medical doctor, social worker, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, chaplain, professional nurses and carers are working around the clock to ensure that each patient is cared for with 5-star medical care, dignity and compassion. This dedicated care increases life expectancy, improves health and prevents worsening disease for over 200 people per year.

At each visit our Community Health Workers (CHWs) partner with their clients through a range of interventions that address lifestyle issues and behaviour patterns. Our goal is to reduce HIV and TB, as well as other preventable illnesses and injuries. The CHWs continue to play a vital role in reaching our communities with wound dressings, health screenings, medication delivery, and home visits. When delivering care in our communities the CHWs partner with other programs offering staff wellness events, including client health screenings, and mental health screenings.

Our small but impactful satellite branch in the Eastern Cape continues to reach more clients per staff member than any other programme. This group of employees have to keep up a diverse skill set: as they reach moms coming to clinic facilities through educational, First 1000 day talks, run HIV support groups following HIV testing, conduct home visits, teach biblical life skills in schools and help clients stay on needed medication.

Our HAST (HIV, AIDS, STI & TB) counselors continue to partner each month with over 2000 newly diagnosed HIV and TB clients. Both of these illnesses can be life-changing for the client and require significant support, care and counselling to get started in their treatment journey. Each week hundreds of established clients attend our group health talks where we check their medication, weight and general health. We also discuss strategies for staying healthy, and the client receives their next month of medication. Testing and early detection continue to remain vital to the health of our communities.