Palabora wins another major award
2006-11-10
On Friday evening 10 November 2006 Palabora Mining Company won the Corporate
Category in the Sowetan/Old Mutual/SABC Community Builder of the Year Competition
at a gala function at the Sandton Convention Centre. Keith Marshall (Managing
Director) and SHE Rasebotsa (Phelang Programme Manager) accepted the award
on behalf of Palabora. This is the second major national award that Palabora
has won for the work that the Palabora Foundation is carrying out in surrounding
communities. On the 5 October the Palabora also won the Nedbank Capital
Green Mining Award for the best corporate socio-economic programme.
The Phelang Ba-Phalaborwa HIV/AIDS programme was initiated in the area at the beginning of 2001 and is funded by Palabora Mining Company’s the major funder, the Limpopo Province Department of Health and Social Development, Foskor Limited, Sasol Nitro and Oxfam Australia and the National Development Agency. This project commenced in 2001 with a baseline study to determine the impact of the pandemic in the area and the study was funded by the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. The purpose of the programme is to use an effective HIV & AIDS management system to minimise the impact of HIV & AIDS in the community.
The Phelang Community Centre is located in premises next to the Foundation’s administration centre in Namakgale which was formerly the Palabora Mining Company family clinic. This project facilitated the establishment of community support structures at 14 wards and on approximately 20 farms with approximately 120 volunteers who work with the Palabora Foundation, the Department of Health and Social Development other NGOs and local government. The HIV/AIDS Support Group continues to meet on a monthly basis for capacity building purposes and to plan and review progress of their work. During the year they conducted 1 187 home visits and visited eight schools, three prisons and four churches and seven farms and two military bases. There are thirty seven community Peer Group educators who play a valuable role when visiting high risk areas and had the opportunity during the year to address 6 117 males and 5 610 females on HIV/AIDS related issues at these sites.
The Phelang Community Centre provides a wide range of services to the community and Foskor Limited donates nutritional supplements which are given to old and new Support Group members. The centre is also the centralised distribution point for male and female condoms to approximately 40 different sites in the area and additional funding is received from Oxfam Australia to build capacity with the Support Group.
The Home Based Care (HBC) group has doubled in size since 2002 and has provided a valuable service in the community. The Department of Health and Social Development donated home based care kits to the various home based care sites. The Home Based caregivers visited 5 261 patients during the year. During the year, 252 people were referred to the Phelang Community Centre for professional help of which 77 were referred to the Department of Health and Social Development for social assistance, consultation and treatment. A further 22 were referred to the hospital for medical treatment.
The Bana Pele project continued with funding from the National Development Agency with a programme in three pilot communities to assist orphans and vulnerable children to register with the Department of Social Development for social grants and food relief. Registration with the Department of Home Affairs was for birth certificates. Seventy-nine children received birth certificates, 103 foster grants and forty three child support grants, and thirty are on a programme receiving food parcels. The Phelang Community Centre also collates statistical information on sexually transmitted infections, voluntary counselling and testing and the prevention of mother to child transmission.
The National Development Agency made a funding grant available to the Foundation for the establishment of two community vegetable gardens which included the sinking of boreholes, erection of water tanks, fencing off of the property and the purchase of farming equipment and seeds.
The
most significant achievement in 2005 was the accreditation by the National
Department of Health and Social Development of the Phelang Community Centre
at the Palabora Foundation and the Khanyisa Clinic at the Maphuta Malatji District
Hospital to "roll-out" antiretroviral therapy treatment (ARV).
Previously those patients requiring ARV treatment had to travel with great
difficulty some 100 kilometres to the Letaba Regional Hospital. Treatment is
now more accessible to local communities and better managed through the support
structures set up by the Phelang Community Centre.
The statutory Ba-Phalaborwa local HIV/AIDS Council continues to meet on a monthly basis and deals mainly with policy and district issues relating to HIV/AIDS. The Ba-Phalaborwa HIV/AIDS Awareness programme has been recognised as one of the most effective programmes in the province.
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