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Dear Iain
I am sorry for the long delay in getting back to you. Please would you
convey Bishop David's and my grateful thanks to members of the parish of
Holy Trinity and St Mary's for the two cheques for two donations totalling
R14519.93 which had been sent to us by your honorary secretary, Graham
Smith. We very much appreciate the generosity of all concerned.
The last time I e-mailed you Florence and I were in the middle of a
three-day home-based care workshop which took place in the Silobela township
outside Carolina from 17 - 19 July 2002. We had previously trained this
group in 2000, so this training course was to reinforce what they had
learned and fill any gaps in their training. 30 caregivers attended the
course. The commitment of these caregivers always amazes me. Since their
training in 2000 they were still together trying to make a difference in
their impoverished community without any funding. Last month, I was told
they were expected to be funded by the Department of Health and Department
of Social Services which is good news. From 18 - 20 August we did similar
training with the combined home-based care groups servicing the areas of
Elukwatini, Nhlazatshe and Tjakastad. This training was done in the
Elukwatini Community Hall. They had also initially been trained by us in
2000 and have been very active since then. They are very well run groups
with management members coming from their various communities. Their work
has been funded which is great. We returned to the Mayflower home-based care
group for follow-up training. They were trained by us in the early part of
last year. 21 caregivers attended the training from 12 - 14 September. You
may remember that in the early part of this year we had organised training
for communities in the Dundonald, Glenmore and Bettiesgoed area very close
to the Swaziland border. A community called Swallowsnest situated between
Glenmore and Bettiesgoed was very upset because we had left them out of our
training plans but because we had combined the Glenmore and Dundonald
workshops, the saving we had effected enabled us to train the Swallowsnest
caregivers from 16 - 20 September. On the last day of the training, local
councillors and the clinic sister spent the day with us to thank us for the
training and to offer the new caregivers their support.
I resubmitted the funding proposals I had done in January and May of this
year combining the training of seven new groups for the new funding period -
Nhlaba, Badplaas, Mooiplaas, Vlakplaas, Diepdale, Oshoek and Hartebeeskop -
with the mentoring and support of groups not yet funded - Fernie 1,
Swallowsnest, Bettiesgoed, Glenmore and Diepdale. We have decided not to
continue with the HIV/AIDS youth workshops for the moment as the funding for
these no longer fall under the Department of Health but under the Department
of Education.
I may have mentioned the Men's Indaba we have organised for 30 November
2002. This will take place at the All Souls Anglican Church in Tsakane. We
are expecting 1200 men to attend from all over the Diocese. Local men from
the Tsakane community are also expected to attend. We are hoping that as a
result of the Indaba more men will become involved in HIV/AIDS work. Guest
speakers will be The Revd Canon Ted Karpf - HIV/AIDS Community Ministries
and Mission of the Anglican Church of the Province of Southern Africa, Mr
Alfred Mikosi - Project Development Officer for LifeLine Southern Africa and
Chairman of the South African Men's Forum on HIV/AIDS and The Archbishop of
Cape Town and Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of the Province of
Southern Africa, The Most Revd. Winston Hugh Njongonkulu Ndungane. Ted will
be talking about 'What the Bible says about our relationships'; Alfred will
be speaking on 'Issues of Gender and Sexuality' and our Archbishop will
speak on 'If I am Responsible, What do I do?'. The Indaba will begin at 9.00
a.m. and run through to 4.00 p.m. Alfred will also be addressing the subject
of the 'Role of Men in HIV/AIDS' in the afternoon. We are hoping that the
men will commit themselves to some kind of action before the close of the
Indaba. Would Holy Trinity and St Mary's please pray for all concerned on
the days leading up to the Indaba and on the day of the Indaba? I would be
so grateful.
I have been invited to do a number of talks about the HIV/AIDS work in the
Diocese so I have been spending some time writing talks/sermons to suit the
various audiences. Tricia Sibbons is out here at the moment. She returns at
the end of this week. Florence, Tricia and I attended a weekend workshop on
8 - 10 November we had organised for the management committee members and
co-ordinators of three of the home-based care projects we are involved in on
the East Rand at St. Peter's Lodge in Rosettenville. The whole idea was to
get the groups to share their experiences and to teach them skills with
regard to project management. Tomorrow, Tricia and I will be travelling to
Mayflower to meet with Fr. Tom McSeveney and Fr. Peter Mbatha to discuss the
plans they have with regard to the building of creche/pre-school facilities
for HIV/AIDS affected and needy children in the area of Mayflower. Peter is
Chairman of the Mayflower home-based care group and he is very concerned
about the numbers of orphans in his area. On Monday I will be travelling to
Vukuzakhe outside Volksrust (near the Kwa Zulu Natal border) to take 60
Christmas hampers to the orphans in the township. One of St Chads
parishioners in Edenvale has put these hampers together.
Will Holy Trinity and St Mary's be doing anything for World AIDS Day? I
would love to hear all about it.
I will be on leave from 2 to the end of December. I am looking forward to a
good rest - I need it, I feel like a zombie - and catching up on reading
which I very much enjoy.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes
Lynne.
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