“We used to come to this [Mnceba] clinic, and we wouldn’t even find Panado if you had a headache or were just in pain. But now there’s a difference. While there’s still a long way to go, now we can at least find medication and at times even check our sugar levels. This shows that if we can continue working with various stakeholders, including faith-based leaders, politicians, and traditional leaders, we can improve service delivery and restore the dignity of black people,” says Ntabankulu community member Siphokazi Mdolo.
Ntabankulu is part of the Alfred Nzo District Municipality, in the Eastern Cape.
Siphokazi, together with Tekano fellows Judiac Ranape, Zimbini Madikiza, and other community members, have intensified advocacy efforts aimed at improving health care in the area. In 2023, the fellows, working together with another Tekano fellow, Lebohang Molete, handed over a repurposed container to be used as a waiting area at the clinic.
“Since the handover of the repurposed container to the community of Mnceba, the dignity of old people has been restored. Before the handover of the container, old people who were sick used to sit on the grass, but now they have a place where they can feel safe and comfortable, and this gives a bit of hope to someone who is sick,” adds Siphokazi.
Vuyokazi Ngceba, a community health worker, agrees with Siphokazi that there’s been improvement, but there’s still a lot of work to do.
“We have seen some improvements in the area because before we started doing door-to-door campaigns on HIV/AIDS and TB, people now have information on how they can protect themselves. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, we were on the frontline. One of the big problems that we still have in the area is that there’s a lack of community health workers. We only have four community health workers servicing 17 catchment areas. We end up walking long distances to assist people in an area that is affected by TB; people still don’t want to go to the clinic to test, so we must go to them to collect sputum samples,” says Vuyokazi.
Both Siphokazi and Vuyokazi say that access to healthcare needs to be improved in the area, as it is not sustainable for one clinic to serve 17 villages. They plan to continue working with the Tekano fellows and other stakeholders to improve services in the area.
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