Posts

Showing posts from July, 2017

University of Leeds - The Final Takeover

Image
Sawubona (Hello in Zulu)! This is Esther reporting from Greytown in KwaZulu-Natal. I will be sharing with you some insights on what we have been up to in our final week and round up some reflections on the whole trip. On Monday and Tuesday, we revisited 1000 Hill’s Community Centre, Hillcrest Aids Centre and the White House. Tabitha, Lizzie, Mos and I had the privilege of having a conversation with one of the healthcare workers working in Hillcrest Aids Centre. He is called Tzam; a physiotherapist, counsellor and administrative officer. He shared with us the diet patients are fed with and the daily struggles they face. His love and dedication to helping them is very inspiring. On Tuesday, Tabitha and Lizzie headed back to Hillcrest and did a nutritional analysis of their meals. Their diet mainly consistsof high protein foods and plenty of water. However, for patients under palliative care, food is used for comfort instead and patients had the freedom to have whatever food they desi

University of Leeds Takeover, Take 2

Image
Hi everyone! This is Katie and Tabitha from Leeds University, also in South Africa with GAGA UK. This week we spent some time at 1000 Hills Community Centre which is a centre dedicated to helping all the local community. It has a school, clinic, kitchen, craft room, computer suite and many other facilities for all ages and it has a feeding programme serving thousands each year. We planned and delivered several lessons to 4-5 year olds, involving tasting and drawing fruit and vegetables. We even got the class singing our own mini song about fruit and vegetables which they all seemed to love and put a smile on all our faces. On Tuesday we spent the morning at The White House, which provides a residential facility for those with physical and mental disabilities. We were lucky enough to also see their feeding programme for the elderly which happens once a week, providing lunch for the community. In true African style, despite the gas not working, over 100 meals of rice and chic

The Second Week

Image
Wednesday saw the University of Leeds students split in to two groups.  Katie, Mos, Katie and Lizzie headed to 1000 Hills Community Helpers. There, they delivered workshops to two groups of their community caregivers, talking about sugar and salt content in food and what too much of these things can do to you, as well as touching on diabetes, exercise, meal portions, and much more.  Here are the girls in between the two sessions, discussing what went well... Karen, at 1000 Hills, was really pleased with how the girls did and gave them each a bracelet to say thank you. The caregivers were asking a lot of questions and got involved in the sessions, and Karen was thrilled to see their interest.  Meanwhile, Esther and Lizzie headed to Hillcrest AIDS Centre and worked with some of the gogos they support. On Wednesday's the grannies come in for parenting classes, to improve their skills and work with children in their communities and families.  On Thursday