This is Hugo and Liesje Tempelman’s greatest concern: the children. They are the victims of HIV infection, even if they are not infected themselves, they have lost their father and/or mother. The orphans often find themselves alone, without papers, without help, defencelessly exposed to danger and drowning in the daily struggle for survival. For these children, education is a higher good that seems a long way off, because their main concerns are their daily bread, their siblings, their shelter and their physical safety. Hugo Tempelman: “This is the second wave of the epidemic, which is hitting these children all the harder.”
Children are the future – with this in mind, we wish everyone a peaceful and hopeful Christmas and a motivated and fresh start to the New Year!
Your Hugo Tempelman Foundation
The Christmas party for the children of the Ndlovu Care Group’s CHAMP program was once again a complete success this year.All the children were presented with gifts.They had great fun with Dr. Hugo Tempelman.
We often report on personal stories from Elandsdoorn about how Hugo Tempelman and the Ndlovu Care Group help people to cope with their lives and illnesses on a daily basis. The fact that the Ndlovu Care Group is made up of people, helpers, who have to deal with the suffering, fears and needs of others on a daily basis fades into the background. They experience the harsh realities that the infection brings with it as part of their everyday work. The strain this places on employees often goes unnoticed. What are just statistics for others are faces, voices and stories for the employees on the ground. At the beginning of the month – on World AIDS Day – the employees of the Ndlovu Care Group held their own small memorial service. Employees have often had very personal experiences or impressions with patients. There is often not enough time to think about this in the stress of everyday life. On this day, the employees gathered to share memories. Memories of people, their own family members, friends who, despite all their efforts, did not win the battle. A red candle was lit for each person who was remembered and shared a story with the others. A yellow candle was dedicated to each person remembered who is living with HIV. For example, for a young woman whose call for help reached the staff from Tel Aviv these days. She went to Israel to work and was horrified to discover that she could not get her ARV medication there. In her panic, she wrote to the clinic in Elandsdoorn via WhatsApp and asked for help. Dr. Lucas immediately made contact with Tel Aviv and ensured that she received the appropriate treatment and support. A very touching message of thanks then reached the staff of the Ndlovu Care Group (see picture).
A wonderful little story. This and other events are the reason for the third candle that was lit: a white candle that is intended to illuminate the future with hope.
Last week, Charlotte completed her paramedic course at the SRQ Ambulance Training College with distinction. On December 12, she will receive her certificate and be appointed as a member of the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
During the intensive course, Charlotte had to master a number of medical situations. She was tested on her ability to act and make decisions quickly and correctly in real emergency situations. Assessing a situation is crucial to a calculated response, and if trainees fail a single step of the assessment, they do not graduate.
Charlotte admitted to being incredibly excited and nervous before the test. She was incredibly relieved when she heard that she had passed.
We have been following Charlotte’s journey for a while now. She had a very difficult start in life when she lost her mother to AIDS at the age of nine and was left all alone. She found support from the Ndlovu Care Group and Hugo Tempelman. We are delighted to be able to report on the successful steps she has taken on her journey since then. We will continue to keep an eye on Charlotte and follow her progress.
On Saturday, December 3, the TV channel ANIXE SD will broadcast a TV version of our documentary about Clemens Schick’s visit to Elandsdoorn at 1:30 pm. There will be a further broadcast at Christmas on December 24th, also at 13:30. Further broadcasts of the 22-minute documentary and a five-minute short version will be made in the course of next year.
For those who can’t make it, we have also made the documentary available on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/d7tsJJBj9Gg
Our ambassador Clemens Schick flew to South Africa with a film team in July 2016. He wanted to get a personal impression of current developments and new projects.
In addition to visiting the Medical Center in Elandsdoorn, the main focus was on the projects and programs of the Ndlovu Care Group, which gives children and young people a future.
Liesje and Hugo Tempelman gave a vivid presentation of the individual projects. Personal conversations with Charlotte, for example, made the trip a very emotional experience. see for yourself!
On World AIDS Day on December 1, the Federal Center for Health Education reminds us of the dramatic figures for the global disease AIDS. Only 46% of those affected worldwide have access to vital medication. This is the reason why the infection is often still tantamount to a death sentence. NGOs such as the Ndlovu Care Group, which provide medical care – regardless of health insurance, social status or financial means of those infected – are vital for those affected in rural areas.
Hugo Tempelman played a pioneering role in South Africa with the mother and child clinic, which he was able to run for many years with significant financial support from the magnetic jewelry company Energetix. HIV-positive mothers were delivered of their babies here. The early treatment of the virus made it possible for the babies to be born HIV-negative. This and other successful projects in the Limpopo province drew the attention of government agencies to the work of the Ndlovu Care Group. Treatment methods are now being adapted as basic models by the Ministry of Health.
The fact that state authorities are seeking support from an NGO is a great honor for Hugo Tempelman and his work. People infected with AIDS whose treatment in state hospitals is rejected as hopeless are referred to Hugo Tempelman. The Ndlovu Care Group manages to treat 70 % of these cases successfully, enabling them to return to a largely normal life.
To improve this rate even further, Hugo Tempelman and his Ndlovu Care Group have set up a research center. Many new research projects are installed here and their sustainability investigated. For example, the HIV rapid test has been available since last year – a saliva test that proves within minutes whether you are carrying the virus or not. Another important research project is the ring study, which is investigating whether the contraceptive ring can also be used to administer HIV-preventive medication at the same time. You can find the complete overview at: https://hugo-tempelman-stiftung.de/projekte/forschungsprojekte/
In July, the members of the Ndlovu Youth Choir were visited by a television crew. A documentary about the young people was to be filmed in the Miracle Theater. South Africa’s largest television station, SABC 1, broadcasts the i-DENTITY show on Sunday mornings, a magazine aimed primarily at young people. Current social, economic and media topics are addressed here. From questions of education to the latest apps, but also current music is presented here. And now the Ndlovu Youth Choir has also been portrayed in the following film:
As if that wasn’t enough, the choir’s latest song is also officially available to download from iTunes. The choir has chosen the song “Vandaag” by Bakermat as its basis. In 2012, DJ Bakermat celebrated a huge success with this hit (One Day), which contains a sample of Martin Luther King’s famous speech “I have a dream”. The Ndlovu Youth Choir has now recorded a remix in their new recording studio. The equipment was made available to them with the support of the Thomann company and the Hugo Tempelman Foundation(we reported). The theater manager Sandile completed a training course to realize exactly such projects(read more here). And now the first results are in. Other platforms such as Google Play, Amazon and Spotify are in the pipeline as distribution channels. This is yet another excellent example of how the help we organize here does not end up there, but is used effectively and sensibly.
The DREAM study was launched in August 2016 as a continuation of the RING study. We reported on it. DREAM stands for Dapivirine Ring Extended Access and Monitoring. In the DREAM study, the long-term effect of the ring application is now to be observed and documented.
For further clarification, a film has also been produced that clearly explains the topics of the RING study and the DREAM study.
A wonderful film about the opening of the minicampus in Bloempoort, which aptly reflects what the work of the Ndlovu Care Group actually means. Many thanks to Eric McKeown.
Charlotte Biotumelo officially enrolled yesterday to train as a paramedic at the SRQ Ambulance Training College. We have already reported several times about Charlotte, who is an excellent singer in the Ndlovu Youth Choir. Last year, she was one of the two chosen by the Sapinda Rainbow Foundation to take part in the Clipperroundtheworld race. This is a formative experience for the young people and the Ndlovu Care Group is particularly keen to ensure that these young people do not return and fall into a deep hole. The experiences they have on this trip, the many different people and the different living conditions they get to know here open up a completely different world to the participants than their reality at home. For this reason, the participants are supported by social workers for several years afterwards, who are on hand with help and advice. They are there to help show the young people a way to contribute their experiences to the community in a meaningful way and to develop personally, using what they have learned on their journey.
Ntombi, the social project coordinator, supported Charlotte and worked tirelessly to ensure that Charlotte was able to enrol on the relevant courses. To begin with, she is completing a 5-week course to become a paramedic, where she will learn first aid skills. This Basic Ambulance Assistant program (BAA) is aimed at people who want to pursue a career in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and serves as an entry-level qualification.
Charlotte will also complete a 10-week course in firefighting. This training will increase her chances of finding employment in the broad field of emergency services.
We are keeping our fingers crossed for Charlotte and will continue to follow her progress.
In January, we reported on the great commitment of BILD hilft e.V. “Ein Herz für Kinder”, which has pledged its support for the construction of a mini-campus in Bloempoort. (Read more here ). And on October 15, the time had already come: the gates were opened!
The opening of this facility, which includes a feeding station, a pre-school facility, a chill-hub house and a water supply facility, was celebrated with a big party and many guests and, of course, the locals.
Bloempoort is located a few kilometers away from Elandsdoorn, where Hugo Tempelman opened the first feeding station and a preschool more than 15 years ago. What this step has achieved in terms of development is exemplary: by rural South African standards, Elandsdoorn has developed into a thriving community in this time. Water and electricity supply enabled the people who lived there to build and develop infrastructure. There is now a shopping mall. Children can walk short distances to school, fetching water is no longer a day-long task and people can concentrate on other things, such as going to work.
This can be found in the growing community, not least with Hugo Tempelman, whose extensive developments not only create infrastructural projects, but above all open up social and economic opportunities. The opening of the Chill Hub house in Elandsdoorn in 2013 gives young people a place to stay after school. The children in Elandsdoorn receive all-round care and have thus managed to get them off the streets and away from a lack of prospects. Leisure activities such as sporting activities, further education opportunities such as computer courses or the provision of social group structures such as the Ndlovu Youth Choir are excellent and effective ways of giving young people in Elandsdoorn and the surrounding area real prospects for the future.
One great success, for example, is that there have been no teenage pregnancies among the choir members since it was founded and all of them have graduated so far. This is not a matter of course (read our report on this ).
Attempts are now being made to build on this success in Bloompoert. Around 20,000 people live widely scattered in this area. Here in the middle of nowhere on vast grasslands, Hugo Tempelman is realizing his vision of a sustainable future for the people, especially the children, in this area. Where the first boreholes were drilled in January of this year to secure the basis for all growth – water – there is now a solid, brick-built, clean facility.
Within a very short space of time, a campus has been built that makes life easier for the people and especially the children. It provides the people in the area with the most basic necessities: water and electricity. This secures a future for the people, especially the children, who now receive education and nutritional support on site. In Elandsdoorn, there are large vegetable gardens for self-sufficiency, and this is something they also want to make possible in Bloompoert. The fact that Hugo Tempelman was able to realize his idea so quickly is mainly thanks to the association BILD hilft e.V. “Ein Herz für Kinder”, which provided financial support quickly and unbureaucratically. But we must also emphasize the personal commitment: The planning and implementation, from the construction drawing to the purchase of the building materials to the actual construction, was the responsibility of the client himself. The experience from Elandsdoorn has shown that projects in South Africa can be implemented most quickly and effectively if you make an effort yourself. Hugo built everything on his own initiative with the help of local employees. This killed two birds with one stone: the client was always very close to the action and the local people were given work directly. This form of social aid, where people from the community are employed and supported, is the most sustainable way of helping people to help themselves and is the credo of Hugo Tempelman and his Ndlovu Care Group.
Of course, a project like this cannot be implemented without the consent of the local population. The tribal chiefs were asked for their permission and then took part in the opening ceremony.
The women from the community cooked for all the guests, more than 500 people were there and were served the traditional corn porridge and chicken pieces from large pots.
The supporters of the project: Susanne Asbeck, Judith Dommermuth – Chairman of BILD hilft e.V “Ein Herz für Kinder”, Helge Sasse – Deputy Chairman of the Hugo Tempelman Foundation and Vivi Eickelberg – Chairman of the Hugo Tempelman Foundation, Jan Talboom – Deputy Chairman of the Tjommie Foundation were on site for the ceremony.
Hugo gave a very vivid speech at the opening about the purpose and aim of the newly created facility.
Vivi Eickelberg and Helge Sasse opened the campus nutrition station as representatives of the Hugo Tempelman Foundation.
Judith Dommermuth, board member of BILD hilft e.V. “Ein Herz für Kinder” opened the Chill-Hub-House.
She said: “It was a really, really great experience and we not only got to know great people with you all, but also saw an unbelievably great project that could not have been described in words!”
To symbolically secure the future of the campus, all sponsor representatives planted trees in front of the buildings.
Of course, the children were not to be missed:
Not only the Ndlovu Youth Choir performed.
Girls from the community danced traditional dances.
Even the youngest children, who will use the preschool in the future, had rehearsed something.
It was a day with a full program:
All the visitors had a lot of fun and are looking forward to all the developments in Bloempoort.
