On Thursday 12th March I visited the Swazi Wellness Centre at Oshoek, near Mbabane, the border between Swaziland and South Africa.
The Swazi Wellness Centre at Oshoek was setup with a partnership between Chevron and North Star Foundation back in September 07. Chevron is the sponsor for this centre and has committed to its running costs and has even hosted it on its forecourt of the Caltex Service Station. The drivers, sex workers and local community benefit from this very well located centre.
I got to meet the staff of the centre and the first thing that struck me about them was how enthusiastic they were about there work. The staff consists of an Out-reach worker and a Nurse. The Out-reach worker does basic sex education and HIV/AIDS awareness and the nurse does basic heath care with the patients that come to see her. I got the sense that they were very proud to be doing there part in the combat of the spread of HIV/AIDS and STD’s in the community and with the long distance drivers. We, the North Star Foundation team, got to speak to the local’s that were around the area and it does seem that the centre is a very welcome addition to there community. They all knew what it was about even if they felt they did not need to visit it they were aware of the message it was sending out.
Swazi does seem to be very jacked up HIV/AIDS awareness program. On every lamp post and just about every sign post there is the red ribbon symbol for HIV/AIDS awareness. Posters and billboards all have some form of awareness message on them. It was great to see so much awareness and campaigning for the fight against HIV/ AIDS. But it’s not just the Kingdom of Swaziland but I have seen a fair bit of awareness going on in South Africa too.
I am fully aware that we will not eradicate the spread of HIV/AIDS but it is refreshing to see that people are trying to do there bit to stop the spread of this pandemic.
16 Mar 2008
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