Organisation to host free health tests
"I would love to invite people who need any general counselling to come since we will be offering all kind of general counselling that day."
The manager of Tshepho Women Help Centre, Busi Thwala told Kathorus MAIL how difficult it is to run the centre with the little support they have.
The non-profit, Bible-based organisation was established in 1993 and provides services such as health education, pregnancy crisis, adoption and parenting arrangements, HIV/Aids counselling and testing, marriage counselling, skills development, house visits, a feeding scheme, general counselling and condom distribution.
The centre manager Busi Thwala is happy about the job they have done helping their community even though they still need more help.
“We started the centre in 1993 but it was formally registered in 2004. We offer children support when it comes to homework, provide them with school uniforms and offer them after-school food services. We also have pensioners whom we help in many ways. The biggest problem is that we don’t get that much help when it comes to financial matters,” said Thwala.
According to the centre project coordinator Steven Thwala, getting financial help is very difficult, “We used to get help from churches and private companies like National Lottery but now we have not received any help for a while. That is why it is not easy to run this centre. We apply for financial support from the Department of Health once a year. It is very difficult because there are so many services that we provide. At the same time we cater for about 45 people who come to the centre to get food, daily.
“We have about 25 dedicated workers and a large number of clients who we visit every day. Some of the employees are always outside distributing condoms and flyers about HIV and Aids,” said Thwala.
Tila Maganyane, a registered nurse at the centre, said that they will be hosting free HIV/Aids testing, Pap smears, blood pressure testing, TB screening and diabetes testing at Ke-ditsilane Multicultural Village on Tuesday, September 20.
“I would love to invite people who need any general counselling to come since we will be offering all kind of general counselling that day.
“We have invited South African Police Service to come and address the community and youth about issues that affect them, such as crime and other relevant issues. There are social workers and other NGOs that we have invited to come and discuss substance abuse. Even though they have not yet confirmed attendance, it is promising,” said Maganyane.
