Hlabisa Project
In 1999 Cotlands initiated a research project at
Hlabisa, a rural area north of the Hluhluwe game reserve
in KwaZulu-Natal, on behalf of the Department of National
Health. Cotlands was tasked with developing palliative
care guidelines for children living with HIV/AIDS
? and home care was a component of this exercise.
After the research was completed Cotlands decided
to establish home care as an organisational project
in this remote and poverty stricken district, since
team members felt they could not just abandon the
children they had been caring for during the study
— and the local community was in critical need
of this kind of assistance.
Today this community is struggling to cope with the
challenges presented by the AIDS epidemic. The HIV
prevalence in the area is 47%, which means that almost
half of the mothers are infected with the virus ?
and almost every household in the community is affected
by the epidemic, either through losing a relative
to the disease or caring for an infected person.
More than 500 orphans have been registered in the
district, some living in child headed households.
What is Cotlands’ goal?
In these extremely challenging circumstances, Cotlands
aims to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS in Hlabisa
and its surrounds by providing comprehensive home
care to infected and affected children including their
families.
We are also committed to identifying orphans and vulnerable
children in the Hlabisa district in order to establish
a comprehensive care programme for these children.
Orphans and vulnerable children receive comprehensive
care and are maintained in their own community through
the support of child care committees.
Ultimately, we are working on developing a comprehensive
Orphan Care Model that will address the needs of orphaned
and vulnerable children residing in the Hlabisa district.
This includes co-ordinating activities of the child
care committees, accessing social grants and advocating
on behalf of the vulnerable children via a social
worker.
We also arrange foster or adoptive families for orphans,
provide individual or group counselling for orphans
and vulnerable children, make a central kitchen available
to deliver daily meals, train children in household
duties in their homes, present lifeskills workshops
via an organisation called Lovelife and we offer gender
and sexuality workshops to males to address male stereotyping.
Cotlands expects the project to increase
the capacity of the local community by:
More about Hlabisa
The Hlabisa Magisterial District (is located in the
northern part of KwaZulu- Natal and is bounded by
Ubombo in the North, Lower Umfolozi (the Mfolozi River)
in the South, Nongoma in the west and Indian Ocean
in the East.
The district covers 3 700 square kilometres and has
an average population density of 52.8 persons per
square kilometre. The district has an estimated population
of 200 000 making up 2.8% of the population of the
province. The district population comprised of 45,6%
males and 54,4% females.
Socio-economic status
The district is exclusively rural without industries
and few employment opportunities; most people survive
by subsistence farming and migrant labour. Most of
the roads are gravel and a significant percentage
of the population still use river water for drinking.
Nearly two thirds of the economically active age
group are unemployed in the district, which is almost
double the national average.
Only 16% of people over 20 years of age living in
Hlabisa have a matric or higher level of education.
This is a bit lower than the national average of 23%
or the provincial average of 20%.
Health services
The district has one Hospital, 14 clinics, a few mobile
health care points rotating every second week and
one private general practice. The rural nature of
the district makes it difficult to access health services.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has further burdened the already
overburdened health services, rendering them almost
dysfunctional.
How has HIV/AID epidemic affected this district?
Present data estimate a 45% HIV/AIDS prevalence in
the in the district. The district (Hlabisa) Hospital
has an estimated 60% medical admissions rate for HIV/AIDS
patients and more than 70% HIV positive patients in
the TB ward. There is also an alarming increase of
TB cases in the district. Diseases arising from malnutrition
are also on the increase.
For more information contact Busi Nkosi –
Outreach Manager for Cotlands
011 683-7200
A team from Cotlands is doing battle with the ravages of the AIDS pandemic in the remote and poverty stricken Hlabisa district of KwaZulu/Natal. Daily, willingly, bravely and on foot, our team fights to alleviate hunger, suffering, neglect and poverty among the children living in a community of 21 000 people. Photographer Graeme Williams has captured a set of moving images of the people of Hlabisa which is now available on CD. Contact 
