Hope for the chronically ill
'Being chronically ill doesn't mean you are on death row, it just means that you have to take better care of yourself.'
A woman from the rural community of Brandvlei refuses to let her chronic illnesses distract her from her goal to help the community.
Throughout her life, Caroline Tiba has been diagnosed with some of the most life-threatening illnesses. When she was in her teens, she experienced epileptic seizures and was later diagnosed with the illness. Soon after that, she had a stroke. These illnesses, among others, have haunted her health for more than 21 years.
Caroline is a fighter however, and has never let her health affect her love of helping other people. In 2003, she started a care-giving organisation called Ratanganedza Community Care to aid the rural community with medical , socio-emotional and abuse problems.
“When I started the business, I was ill myself, but my illnesses had taught me enough for me to be able to teach those who suffer with health problems how to deal with them, and how to properly use medication,” Caroline said.
She walked along dusty roads for endless kilometres to do door-to-door promoting and to help distribute donated medicine. She formed a team of caregivers in the community and ultimately had a breakthrough when Badirile Clinic offered her a space in which she could hold Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, offer substance abuse counselling and have some office space. The business soon grew into a large-scale outreach programme with more than 1 800 treated patients.
“When the Department of Social Development visited the centre to donate money for equipment, we bought a laptop, desks and chairs – things we didn’t have before. But that was a very long time ago and we desperately need a building.”
One of the problems the care centre experiences is that the clinic closes at 4pm every day.
“Sometimes we have to wait hours for ambulances to reach us, and we have to sit outside because the clinic is closed.
I was in a government hospital‘s (Krugersdorp) ward once, and since then I’ve dreamed of having a haven for my patients that resembled those facilities,” Caroline said.
She dreams about what the centre can achieve in the future. She said she was given a piece of land a while ago, and would love to have a container on it to use as her centre.
She advises all people with chronic illnesses to take their medication, exercise and seek emotional refuge in care centres.
“Being chronically ill doesn’t mean you are on death row, it just means that you have to take better care of yourself,” Caroline said.
You can contact Caroline on 011 416 2100 should you be in need of help, or wish to help her achieve her dream.
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