Multipurpose Centre - Tyhilulwazi

“The Multipurpose Centre Tyhilulwazi” is in the Nolukhanyo Township at Bathurst. Bathurst is between Port Alfred and Grahamstown. The Multipurpose Centre Tyhilulwazi is a registered NPO that started operating in 2007. It began as an elderly service program and has expanded its focus to aiding other demographic groups in the community. The Multipurpose Centre Tyhilulwazi focuses in providing care and support to the vulnerable groups of their community. It is now an after schools care for children from the primary school, old age day care, home based care, HIV/AIDS support group, and single parent support group.
The project coordinator, Boniwe Msimango, carries a lot of responsibility within her community, supporting people of all age groups in cooperation with local care takers.

After school care
The Multipurpose Centre Tyhilulwazi comprises a solid building set on a spacious site with large playground and vegetable garden. The children from the primary school come to the solid building foar the after school care. At two ‘o clock the after school care starts. Some children bring their home-work with them. The children learn a lot about writing, reading, math, English and life skills (such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculoses, God, food, personal hygiene, sex, self-esteem, norms and values etc.) Every child who is visiting the after school care has his/here own personal file. In this file you can find a lot of information about that child.

Homebased-care
Homebased care is at the heart of Tyhilulwazi’s activities. Through a team of well-trained community care workers (ccw’s) the most vulnerable families are identified. The first step is to identify the primary caregiver in the home and support the family or the primary caregivers in households to care for the sick at home. They teach basic skills such as infection control and, as part of the poverty alleviation support, educate about financial matters, social pensions and grants, and issues such as health, nutrition and sanitation. They also make referrals to the relevant authorities or to the Tyhilulwazi Programme Coordinators
The community care workers receive training in primary healthcare , palliative care, first aid, HIV/AIDS including TB & ARV treatment, general counselling and VCT and basic home care nursing . Every second week PLWHA support groups are facilitated throughout Bathurst.
They are supplied with uniform, basic medical supplies and taxi fares and receive a stipend which enables them to visit the clients

PLWHA And Other Chronic Support Groups
People living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic support groups meet every second week in a month. We have 5 different support groups namely:
• PLWHA
• People on Chronic Medication
• Children living with HIV/AIDS
• Older persons 60+
• Foster Parents
These Support groups are in five(5) different areas. The Support Group Co-ordinator facilitates these meetings with the assistance of the community careworkers from each particular area.
Topics that are covered include ARV treatment literacy, re-infection.co-infection of HIV and TB, side effects of ARVs, and practical matters like will preparing and making succession plans.
These meeting also provide a space for emotional support and sharing. The meetings usually begin with some general discussion where various practical matters are addressed or new information and notices given. The group will then follow set guidelines until they finish that module.

Older Persons 60+
This program was initiated when it was recognised that the older persons in the community were being abused mostly by their own families. There has been an increase of elderly women being raped by young men and as a result we formed a forum that will look into this matter.
The main focus is to render services that enable the aged and people with similar problems to remain active and independent in the community. We have a service centre that is open from 08:00 am to 15:00 pm. The elderly make handiwork and sell them for income as they have to support a whole family on the social grant they receive from the government. There is a support group to help them with their chronic medication and to share common challenges.
The elderly participate in the golden games where they compete up to national events. This has made a remarkable improvement in their lives.

Health Education and Awareness Campaigns
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency(ADRA) invited people to a Trainer of Trainers) TOT project. The aim of this project is to educate the community about HIV/AIDS .
There are five co-ordinators who conduct workshops, educate people about health issues; including HIV/AIDS, TB, STI’s and other chronic diseases. We work closely with our only clinic and conduct HCT Campaign, PMTCT, etc at schools and community halls.

Household Food Security
We are concerned with the rising levels of poverty and continuing inaccessibility of food by the poor. Due to the rising price of food and unemployment the poorest of the community cannot afford to buy food.
We work with the community and encourage them to cultivate food gardens. This is part of the program in nutrition education and support. These gardens also help people who are living with HIV/AIDS who do not have any kind of income at all.
The community is not only encouraged to grow vegetables but also to keep chicken and small goats.