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Khayelitsha
Ingrid le Roux
King and Queen of Sweden
Desmond Tutu
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Background
Philani
On the outskirts of Cape Town in South Africa there are a number of townships that came about during the apartheid era, then as large ”illegal” squatter communities. During the 1970-s and 1980-ies a state of emergency constantly prevailed in the townships since they, in principle, were war-zones. After the end of apartheid these townships still exist with vastly spread poverty. The communities have been established at, or nearby dumps, from where bare necessities have been gathered to form shelters and houses for the people. Stamped earth floors are very common.
Unemployment in the townships rates at about 50% and many of those who have a job work for a salary of some 10 Rand (slightly more than 1 USD) an hour. The consequences in the townships of unemployment and poverty, primarily affect the children who get undernourished and sick. Several diseases prevail, e.g. HIV / AIDS. When a mother gets AIDS and dies, the child, especially if it is small, stands no chance of surviving.
Ingrid le Roux, a Swedish physician, in 1979 established a clinic for undernourished children and their mothers in the Crossroads´ community. The clinic was named Philani which in the Xhosa language means ”to live” or ”get healthy”. The clinic has today grown to encompass six clinics, four in the township of Khayelitsha, one in Crossroads and one in Brown's Farm. In Philani´s reception area some 750.000 people live where one quarter of the children suffer from chronic undernourishment. One quarter of the women visiting the clinics in Khayelitsha are HIV- positive.
At Philani´s clinics the aim is to find the most exposed children and to rehabilitate them. Preventive measures are employed regarding cost advice and outreaching home visits. Many young HIV positive women are found in the sheds. Many of them are single with children. Philani works after the principle that if you support the mothers the children will have a chance. There are currently reasons to be positive about the progress. As from 2004, Philani´s patients have access to antiviroles.
Ingrid le Roux is married to Pieter and has three grown-up children. She lives in South Africa since 1972 and has worked at the Groote Schuur hospital in Cape Town (where Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first heart transplant). Since 1988 Ingrid is employed by the Swedish Church Mission as missionary and as such she runs the six Philani clinics on the outskirts of Cape Town. The Philani clinics have rendered international recognition and many delegations and individuals have visited and visit the clinics. Among those who have paid visits are the King and Queen of Sweden, Queen Elizabeth of England, the Dalai Lama and Laura Bush. In Augusti 2005, Ingrid was awarded "Swedish Woman of the Year" by SWEA; Swedish Women's Educational Association, Inc. This is a global, non-profitmaking association for Swedish women resident abroad and Ingrid received the prize at a ceremony at the Hotel Radisson Hotel in Göteborg, Sweden.
Philani has Archbishop Desmond Tutu as active and supporting patron.
Rotary
The Rotary Club Göteborg-Örgryte decided in 2005 to financially support a dental health project at the Philani clinic in Khayelitsha. Shortly thereafter, the Rotary Club Göteborg-City joined the project. RC Göteborg-Örgryte and RC Göteborg-City applied for and were awarded a District Designated Fund by District 2360.
The search for a local Rotary Club in Cape Town ended when RC Kromboom decided to join the dental health project. Also RC Kromboom contributed financially and this Club applied and received additional DDS-funding from its District 9350. Thereafter, the two Swedish clubs, jointly with RC Kromboom, applied for a Matching Grant at The Rotary Foundation within Rotary International. A Matching Grant was awarded in the summer of 2007.
This Matching Grant from Rotary has been used for the furnishing of (used) dental equipment for a two-room dental clinic and will also, for additionally three years (until October 2010), be used for the provision of necessary equipment, consumables, equipment maintenance etc.
In addition, RC Göteborg-Örgryte has collected separate funds that were used as reimbursement for the building costs relating to the part of a larger building extension at Philani´s main building that houses the dental clinic. One part of these funds originated from Rotary´s U-fund (Swedish Rotary Member´s Fund for International Development Work).
In November 2007 dental equipment of some 1 tonne was shipped to Cape Town and installed in two dental rooms in early December. The dental clinic was inaugurated / blessed by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on 13th December 2007.
In April 2008 the clinic was supplemented with some additional equipment in conjunction with the hiring of an oral hygienist and the start-up of the dental clinic.
RC Göteborg-Örgryte and RC Kromboom have, in addition to the Matching Grant, also collected extra funds for the reimbursement of the oral hygienist´s salary for almost one year (up to April 2009).
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