26 June 2012 | Yem Yem supports Footprints Hospice

In addition to the 2% of Yem Yem profits that are donated to Footprints on an annual basis, Dhlomo personally handed over computer equipment that will aid the processes and systems that make Footprints the successful NGO that they pride themselves on. A visit to Footprints very quickly reinforces the reality that there are still so many South Africans that reflect the words of Ghandi, ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’.

Mary Jwaai, project manager and one of the retired nurses believed she could make a difference to the sufferers of disease and the care and empathy that is immediately evident throughout the hospice is testimony to her dream. Jwaai believes, ‘Apartheid taught us so much. It taught us that we could run any hospital’ and that attitude has resulted in far more than just a hospice.

Soon after Footprints was up and running, the realization set in that patients suffered from more than the physical effects of the disease, but also the societal stigma attached to HIV/Aids. The need for counseling and support groups thus became the next priority. In order to bring in younger caregivers to assist in this process, Footprints gained accreditation from the Health and Welfare SETA to run courses that have to date resulted in the successful graduation of four registered nurses. The success of this programme has resulted in the Deputy Minister requesting that the programme be extended to the other provinces.

Footprints currently offers support groups to 67 patients that have been discharged and to ensure that the necessary nutritional requirements amongst HIV/AIDS sufferers, they provide food parcels prepared from their organically grown, ‘model garden’.

In the words of Chairman Siphiwe Dhlomo, ‘Yem Yem is honoured to be able to make a difference to those suffering under the scourge of HIV/Aids’.


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