by Gqibelo Dandala, Executive Director, One to One Africa
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed , it’s the only thing that ever has.” These words by Margaret Mead remain as true today as the day she uttered them in 1978 when receiving the Planetary Citizen of the Year Award.
This is a truth we live by at One To One Africa; ours is a lean team of incredible women punching well above our weight in terms of the impact delivered. A team of 25 mentor mothers (also known as community health workers) services over 3,200 clients, comprising of women and children (we call our beneficiaries clients because of the inherent respect we have for them, implicit in the term client).
Our localisation strategy in providing primary health care intervention to our clients is to employ local women from the very villages we serve, because they understand the terrain, the social dynamics and nuances. This allows them to be more effective and efficient in their work, as they know best how to not only communicate with our clients, but also elicit critical information related to the health of the women and children we serve, done in a respectful and compassionate manner. As they earn the trust and gain the confidence of our clients, their task becomes easier as clients readily volunteer information regarding their health. This may seem obvious to you, my reader, but this is not common practice.
Allow me to paint you a picture of what took place before we came on the scene: maternal mortality stood at a staggering 40%, the result of women not attending their neo-natal classes and presenting too late at health facilities, currently maternal mortality in our catchment area was brought down to 0%! Before we came along, mother-to-child HIV transmission stood at over 30%, we’ve brought it down in our project catchment area to 0.03%. How have we managed these results? Through our team of mentor mothers, over 70% of whom are themselves HIV positive, and every single one of them a mother. The relatability brought by our team to clients creates space for empathy and trust to develop, hence information, seemingly unrelated to one’s health status is openly discussed and appropriate counsel and action taken by our team.
It was through this intimacy of service and care that our team learnt that transportation, or rather the lack thereof, is a huge barrier to access. The vast distances to health facilities requires that one use public transportation, which brings with it a cost factor. With limited funds available, the opportunity cost of going to seek medical attention is often outweighed by the need for necessities, in particular food and nutrition, within households. And so it was that the seed was planted for a One To One mobile clinic.
So strong was the belief in the importance of the mobile clinic which would be able to see 1,500 additional clients per month that we, at head office have been galvanised into action to find the money to make the mobile clinic a reality! Our head office, equally lean and all women, comprises just 6 of us. And in an equal gesture, I look to you fellow reader, to help us make this mobile clinic a reality. See here about the need for the mobile clinic. How, you ask? Be a part of the iThemba Women’s Giving Circle.
iThemba, which means Hope and Trust in the indigenous Xhosa language, is a partnership between women across the world, the type of women to whom Margaret Mead was referring, and communities we serve in dire need of this mobile clinic. iThemba is a group of informed and compassionate women who share the values of wanting to ensure that women everywhere have the same opportunities to build safe, healthy and stimulating environments that children need to thrive. You can get involved through a donation from as little as £50, or you could champion a fundraising activity for the mobile clinic. Know people who may be able to help? Introduce us to or connect us with your networks / resources to make primary healthcare a reality for 1,500 clients every month.
Let the words of Margaret Mead be the clarion call to us, a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens to change the lives, improve the health and thus improve the life outcomes of 1,500 people every single month. Get in touch with us at ithemba@onetoonechildrensfund.org