Orphaned & Vulnerable Care
HIV Prevention & Treatment
We prioritise provision of HIV related services in all our districts by working closely with local service providers such as clinics and hospitals. Our Community Service Providers [CSP] conduct home visits where they administer HIV Risk Assessments. They also educate clients on the importance of knowing their status through testing and make referrals to HIV testing services based on assessment results. For HIV positive clients, our CSPs provide adherence support which includes treatment literacy, age-appropriate counselling and HIV disclosure support.
Life Skills Sessions
SSI also extends our HIV prevention education to 12–19 year old students in our partner schools. In collaboration with the Ministry of Basic Education, we developed an evidence-based school curriculum for HIV and violence prevention to reduce sexual risk behaviour. Specially trained Life Skills facilitators hold weekly sessions for students.
Community Capacity Building
SSI is committed to developing local capacity within the community. Through our Aunties & Uncles Project we trained over 25 caregivers to take on a leadership role within their community, and initiate conversations with neighbouring families to break the taboo surrounding sexual abuse. We also trained over 30 peer educators to discuss difficult topics with their peers, such as intergenerational sex, multiple concurrent, intimate partners, substance abuse and other topics affecting teens in their communities. Our CSPs also regularly engage community members in income generating activities such as Perma-Gardening training, where members of the community learn how to sustainably grow vegetables in their own backyards for both consumption and selling.
Young Mothers Support Group
OVC outreach work also includes SSI’s Young Mothers’ Support group for in-school participants. Students learn about Gender-Based Violence in their sessions, which prepares them to look for signs of abuse in their families and provide information on where to go for help should they experience such incidents. In addition, this group offers targeted services to mothers up to 24 years old, including the opportunity to learn positive parenting skills, family planning & contraceptive methods, and career skills to help them provide for their little ones.
Malebogo* is a 66-year-old grandmother who has been raising her 16-year old granddaughter following the death of her own daughter.
In August 2017, she sought services from SSI to gain more support. In the past Malebogo expressed challenges in parenting her granddaughter, citing generational gaps and how ‘modern’ life disconnected them, creating a lack of understanding between them. Thus, we provided her access to a number of services that have greatly changed the course of their relationship.
Today, she proudly says that she can talk freely to her granddaughter without fear of whether she will be offended or not. “This has been made possible by the numerous workshops and trainings I received from SSI. These workshops helped us create a support network with other caregivers; some of those workshops like Perma-gardening and WE-GROW in August 2019, grouped us together for a common goal”. Malebogo* has now started two perma plots in her backyard, providing fresh vegetables for her and her family.
Being part of SSI programs has pushed Malebogo* to feel more empowered to speak with her family members about the new skills she is learning at her age. She says “who would have thought an old woman like me would live again and see the new hope in front of her?”
Additionally, she feels that she can most effectively raise, educate, and communicate with her granddaughter without being tongue-tied like before. The Caregiver Communication Workshop she attended in August 2018, along with a follow up visit to the SSI office, assisted Malebogo* in learning how to raise her children ‘the modern way’.
Malebogo* says the teachings she has received also helped her locate and connect to her orphaned granddaughter’s father, reuniting him with his daughter, and aided her in establishing a rewarding relationship between them all.
