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2 April 2001 by V. Dongozi in Harare The Zimbabwe Red Cross has established Home Based Care projects throughout the country. The National Society trains volunteers on home caring, in particular the care for HIV/AIDS patients. Currently 500 volunteers countrywide are making home visits caring for more than 5,000 HIV/AIDS patients. "Soldier of the nation" Mr. B. Ndebele is a care-facilitator with a difference. He is the only male care-facilitator out of the 5,000 Red Cross volunteers. His name means "soldier of the nation" in his local language and Mr. Ndebele has proved that he is a real "soldier". The Dete Support Group in the Matebeleland North province, of which he is a member, has 32 volunteers who dedicate their time to take care of chronically ill persons. The group also advises the families of the ill on how to care for them. "I have been a care-facilitator since 1997. After I realised that most of the men in my community had problems opening up to women care-facilitators and so I decided to fill the void," he says. Mr. Ndebele is also unique in that as Kraal-head of Sayanyanga village, he is actively involved in improving the welfare of his people. "As a community leader, I have to lead by example and what better way is there than to assist in improving the welfare of the people?" he says. What makes him even more unique is that in Zimbabwe, like in most African countries, providing care for the sick is viewed as a role for women. 24 million people in Africa are HIV positive More than 24 million people in Africa are HIV-positive. The International Federation has prepared a regional plan to be implemented by the Red Cross in ten countries of Southern Africa, namely Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Lesotho, Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. This plan is the result of the Ouagadougou conference in September last year, where 53 African National Societies committed themselves to address this issue more vigorously.here |
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Volunteers
receive training at the home based care training unit, Chivi, Zimbabwe(p2416).
