Thursday, December 31, 2015

'Bosso' Has Been Found!

Sue-Ann reports that “Our ram, Bosso, is back safe and sound.” 

Apparently he was found by the police at a slaughterhouse in a nearby village. Stock thefts are heavy, particularly for goats so VMS has had to beef up the security. 

Always something but HFL will continue to support our cherished goat project!





Thursday, December 24, 2015

Vhuhwavho Nevhungoni Shines On!


Vhuhwavho, or “Woo” as we affectionately call her, continues to blaze significant, life-saving trails. Woo is HIV+ and with the encouragement of her mother, Sue-Anne, disclosed her status when she was nine years of age. As she grew older she began encouraging other youngsters to shed the stigma attached to the “shameful disease” and take responsibility for their own care.  Word spread and soon clinics were calling Woo to speak to other HIV+ youngsters about the importance of managing their own daily ARV drug intake.

This Fall Woo was invited to facilitate a 1-day Youth Summit in Cape Town. Youngsters aged 13 to 19 from all 9 provinces were asked to write letters about their experiences with the local health facilities, services and other health issues. Woo was selected to attend along with 3 other teenagers from our VMS ARV youth group…. a veritable WIN-WIN for Vhutshilo Mountain School!


Delegates to the Youth Summit in Cape Town
Thanks to Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc of Johnson & Johnson, to Relative Networks, and to Beyond Zero, these adolescents enjoyed a flight to Cape Town, 2 nights in a hotel and shared personal stories of rape, abuse, drugs and alcohol use, and/or HIV/AIDS.

We are all witnessing the momentous makings of an AIDS activist and motivational speaker! We will try to keep you up to date on her rapid rise to prominence!

Congratulations, Woo! 



Monday, December 21, 2015

Hope' Has arrived!

‘Hope’ is the name of our latest and youngest HFL follower. 

Khathu Nemafhohoni, the indispensable VMS Administrative Assistant and Outreach Coordinator  for  the Vhutshilo Mountain School ARV support groups, has given birth to a beautiful baby girl. We all join six year old Halatedzi in welcoming his beautiful baby sister. 


Ndi ni tamela mashudu mavhuva! 
All the best! Good luck!

Hope

Friday, December 18, 2015

Eleven enthusiastic Positive Teens on the Run!

By Teresa Bertoncin
Proud team with medals
Team members and Peace Corps volunteer and coach, Teresa Bertoncin traveled to Johannesburg on 06 December to participate in the World Aid Day Soul City ½ Marathon. Four team members and Teresa ran 5km; while 6 others completed the 10km race; and Philly, the team's captain and up and coming running sensation, ran 21.1 km breaking his own record time.

5km & 10km pre-race jitters

Philly's hard-earned exceptional talent as a runner was recognized by several of the top finishers, who sought him out with compliments and encouraging support such as, "Keep it up....you've got what it takes!"

One of those world class runners and race organizers who offered kudos to Philly also made an effort to compliment the entire team and give them some post-race training tips.

World class runner gives the team some post-race tips
All eleven team members left the event proudly sporting World Aid’s Day medals. What a positive way to win the race against stigma and discrimination!

In addition to participating in this very exciting running event, the group had a blast swimming at the Khayalethu guest house in Pretoria where they stayed, and touring the University of Pretoria campus.

Philly’s words at the end of his race, pretty much sums up the experience, “This is my dream come true.”

Ntaka & Philly finishing strong
Ntaka & Philly finishing strong 






Tuesday, December 15, 2015

South Africa Sunday Times – December 6 2015

A mother, her daughter and the school that changes teens lives…

Inspiring partnership unites Limpopo pupils and Aids orphans through brave education initiative to banish Aids stigma.                                                                                            by JAN BORNMAN

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS: Sue-Ann Cook and her daughter Vhuhwavho Nevhungoni of Vhutshilo Mountain School in the Nzhelele Valley,Limpopo.  Pictures by DAYLIN PAUL
IF you didn’t’ know what to look out for, you might easily drive past the unassuming Vhutshilo Mountain School in the Nzhelele Valley in northern Limpopo. 
It is here that Sue-Ann Cook, 60, her 16-year-old daughter, Vhuhwavho Nevhungoni, and their family of support staff have managed to break down the stigma around HIV and Aids, get teenagers to stop defaulting on their medication and teach skills to older teens.

The school, incorporating a preschool and creche, has made a name for itself in the area as a place to learn English and, as a result, even kids who don’t have the virus are sent there by their paying parents, further breaking down the barriers that exist between the children who have HIV and those who don’t.

Since she started Vhutshilo Mountain School in 2002, Sue-Ann has seen it grow from a few children in her mobile home in the bush between a forestry company and a tea plantation to an ever-expanding building with different classes for different ages. 
She came to the Nzhelele valley, situated between Louis Trichardt and Thohoyandou in northern Limpopo, for a long weekend and fell in love with the area.  “I came here for a weekend and I never left,” she joked.

Jumping from one job to the other, she ended up helping out at a friend’s creche and it was there that the bug bit her.

She started her own creche in her mobile home in 2002 with only three children — one of
them” being Vhuhwavho, or Woo as she is also known.

Woo’s biological mother died when she was very young and she lived with her grandmother until she, too, died. When Woo was two years old she was brought to Sue-Ann’s creche, whose work had become known in the local community.

The two bonded and Sue-Ann adopted Woo, following the death of her grandmother.
I always reminded her she adopted me and not the other way around, Sue-Ann said.

Adopting Woo - who was a sickly, orphaned child - served as the perfect measure of what worked and didn’t work and didn’t work at the school over the years.

“I used my daughter as a barometer.  She would always tell me what worked and what didn’t work and that’s how we adapted what we did with the children,” she said.

Woo is HIV-positive and publicly disclosed her status when she was nine. As she grew older and more open about her HIV status, she began talking to other children and telling them about the importance of taking their medication. “Clinics started calling me in to talk to a few kids . . . and that’s how it all sort of started,” Woo said.

MOTIVATED: Vhuhwavho Nevhungoni, 16, studying for an upcoming geography exam. This HIV- positive teenager is an educational speaker on HIV issues at surrounding schools. 

Woo and Sue-Ann started a workshop for older children and teenagers to discuss the use of medication, sex education and defaulting on medication. “Every time someone wants me to talk at a school, I love it. I know this stuff, it’s my passion.

When I go there, I feel free. I’m letting other people know; I’m opening minds. It’s very nice knowing I’m helping people in my own community,” said Woo.

The land on which the school is built was donated to Sue-Ann by the local chief after floods in 2004 destroyed her mobile home—and the space had become too small anyway.

FUTURE LEADERS: Sue-Ann Cook with some of the communities youngsters at her budding school
As Sue-Ann’s school and the goals of the school grew, it started to include older children. “We went up to Grade Three; we battled for six years to become registered with the Department of Education. Eventually they said we had been registered — but would only be able to get the subsidy in two years,” said Sue-Ann. That’s when they reverted to operating as a preschool —only because they were unable to build classes and pay teacher salaries. “But my teachers are very keen to do it again.”
To achieve this, they would need the government subsidy and new classes to be built.

Yet, Sue-Ann said she was surprised to see how far the school had come. “I didn’t think of it as an NGO; I thought I would have one [creche] that would make some money,” she said. “Initially it wasn’t planned to be an NGO, but when we started getting children, especially the HIV-positive children, my thinking changed.” Her goal is a lasting legacy. “I won’t be around forever. I’m 60. I want to know that, when I leave, this place will still run and grow without me,” she said.