Anyone in South Africa with access to medical care can now get tested for HIV and receive free medication. Quite an advance, which helps many people! In this project, we built on that success: with solar panels.
Taboos remain
In South Africa, there are still many taboos around HIV and AIDS. This makes it very difficult to educate the population on how to prevent infection. All sorts of scientifically untrue stories still circulate, people physically distance themselves from someone with HIV or take unnecessary hygiene measures. Women sometimes take HIV medication in secret, to prevent their husbands from finding out and leaving her.
This is precisely why it is so great that in the province of Kwazulu Natal there is a care centre specialising in HIV and AIDS. Here, not only can people get tested and medicines are dispensed, but a lot of education and prevention is also done. Two thousand grandmothers are supported in caring for their grandchildren (if the parents are too ill or have died) and they organise economic activities through which women living with HIV can earn an income.
Solar panels
This Hillcrest Aids Centre was keen to improve its power supply while cutting electricity costs. They asked us and Zulu Aid Foundation for money to purchase 139 solar panels with a battery system so that power can also be stored.
Proper electricity supply means a well-functioning organisation. And that benefits a lot of people living with HIV and AIDS!