Masakhane (O a itse?) Outreach Project Proposal(prevent and treat HIV in rural South Africa)
March 2009 to December 2009

Compiled by M. Savage
Registered Social Worker (SACSSP reg. No: 10-25730)
Cel no: 0027 82 620 6369

Under the auspices of
Village Power community development projects
Reg. No. 2008/019209/08 (Ass. Inc under Section 21)
Tax reg no. 9085/525/17/9

Main organisation: Financial officer:
PO Box73 98 Collins str.
Maanhaarrand Brixton
0346 2092

Social worker:
PO Box 41
Vlakdrif
0342


www.masakhanedrama.blogspot.com

Table of contents
1. Background 3
2. Present situation and problems 4
3. Stakeholders 8
4. Human and physical resources 9
5. Objectives 10
6. Mobilisation: What are we going to do about it? 11
7. Requirements 12
8. Management 14
9. Planning and evaluation schedule 15

1. Background

The larger community targeted by this outreach programme consists of various rural settlements including farm worker compounds, both legal and illegal informal rural settlements and rural factories.
The physical setting is one of dire poverty, lack of service delivery and hardship. The oppression of the mostly Tswana speaking population started at the hand of African invaders even before the first settlement of Europeans.
This was continued over many decades by the Apartheid government who removed settlements as late as 1970’s.
A few of those who where removed have returned through successful land claims during the past 15 years, but often the land is held in tribal trust; meaning that those who work the land have no individual right to ownership and as such cannot use it as collateral for further investment.

Mechanisation of the farming industry and a move towards tourism has reduced the employment opportunities for the mostly uneducated and minimally skilled farm labour. New landowners fear land invasion and avoid having workers live on their land.

Despite the Extension of land Tenure Act (1999), many farm labourers do not have access to the information that would prevent their removal from farms where they have lived all their lives. This leads to the formation of rural squatter camps with no water or sanitation, little shelter or services and more significantly, no hope.
Then came AIDS.

2. Present situation and problems
2.1 Emotional experience of being useless
“these people have no foundations”
A participating Magaliesburg farmer referring to some of his workers.

Historically, farm labourers were not hired for their intellectual capacity. They were expected to work from morning till night for a salary that is often still below the legal minimum wage. They are not expected to ask questions or to have ideas.
The labourers are in some instances still seen as a cheap work force, to be handled as children, with very little thought or decision making capability of their own.

The sad legacy of such treatment is that our target audience often believe of themselves that they do not have the capacity to think or be creative.
When they lose the only useful aspect of their lives; their job as labourer, a cycle of experiencing the self as useless is started.

The way in which the situation is experienced by the local population is often cyclical.
a) The person has never had permanent employment, or has a job as labourer. Alcohol and sex are seen as the only release and reward mechanisms.
b) He/she looses their job due to change of ownership, AIDS or alcoholism.
c) By default they loose their accommodation on the farm
d) The person is unable to take care of their family; either financially or physically, and experiences a distinct loss of personal value and severe stress
e) The need for relief leads the person to drink more and more, using even child grants and parent’s old age pension for this.
f) Children now go without food or clothing
g) Lack of consequential thinking when intoxicated leads to the person having unprotected sex.
h) They may contract HIV at this time
i) He/she may get a temporary job in time.
j) The person works for a week, but uses the weekly wage to get drunk in celebration.
k) The person either does not return to work the following week, or arrives at work still intoxicated.
l) They loose their newfound job, feel even worse about themselves and the downward spiral continues.
m) Add to this that knowledge and information about HIV is extremely sketchy and our average VTC rate (excluding antenatal testing) is at 6%.

2.2 HIV/Aids and STD’s

The main reason why the Village Power development Projects became involved in this proposed project is that we are communally sick and tired of seeing our friends; our family and our piers die of a preventable and treatable disease.

To put this into perspective, one needs to consider a few statistics and cultural values.

a) According to the official Kgetleng district statistics, 34% of the people tested for HIV in our area are HIV positive. The national estimate stands at 27 %. We are officially in trouble.
b) Our two ART centres have only 2100 people on their programmes. That’s out of 14 000 who are HIV positive.
c) According to a 2004 national study by the DOH, 80% of rural men have never been tested for HIV. Kgetleng reports 6.6% of people receiving pre-test counselling.
d) The above mentioned study shows that 40% of rural women simply do not believe that using condoms and having a single faithful partner can prevent HIV infection
e) As we have stated previously, there is a massive problem with alcoholism, which leads to irresponsible sexual behaviour whilst under the influence.
f) The traditional Tswana person considers is extremely rude to discuss any disease.
g) It is socially acceptable for most rural men to have one main girlfriend, and several others. According to the DOH study, in North West; 2 or more alternate girlfriends are the norm.
h) According to our own research, a large proportion of the population do not know that Aids can be controlled by ARV’s. They believe the disease is a result of a disrespectful lifestyle, or it is incurable and untreatable.
i) Even if people wanted treatment, the closest ARV centre is an average of 30km from their place of living. People have no money and no transport.
j) Mobile clinics do not dispense ART. The Koster Hospital teams are in the early planning stages of changing this. These mobile clinics are supposed to visit each settlement at least once a month, but reportedly they are unreliable, and when they do come, they leave again after an hour or two.
k) Having a child with someone implies a lifelong sexual bond that is not necessarily underpinned by an emotional base. In the cities, young people usually have the highest HIV infection rate. In this area, our parents and grandparents, the more traditionally minded people, are dying at the same rate as the youth. Since they consider HIV/Aids to be an affliction caused by a disregard for traditional values, they see themselves as immune.
l) According to the Koster ARV clinic staff, a major source of infection of older people is taking care of infected children and grandchildren. At present Swartruggens Hospital only has 80 children on their ARV programme.


We are in the grip of a devastating pandemic. The rural parts of South Africa have been overlooked, since information programmes are mostly designed for cities and do not take the specific rural circumstances into consideration. If we want anyone to survive this onslaught, we have to get

· Correct and valid information across
· to the right people
· IMMEDIATELY

Our programme can do just that.
And while we’re at it, we will increase our audience’s sense of self-worth and knowledge about their basic human rights, and encourage a culture of responsible drinking as opposed to the present extremes.

We estimate that we can reach up to 10 000 people both directly and indirectly over the next 9 months through this project alone.

2.3 Alcoholism

Alcohol abuse, and specifically binge drinking has a serious social and economic impact on this area. Both women and men often use the little money they have to buy the only means they know of finding pleasure or release. Farmers and other employers are greatly frustrated by this habit, since they often have to wait until Tuesdays before significant work can be done. Many farmers have adopted a forgiving attitude regarding the habit, since they feel responsible for their workers and do not want to dismiss people who are providing for their families. Dismissal would also mean that the replacement has to be trained from scratch.

An interesting phenomenon is that responsible drinking is an almost unknown concept amongst the local population.

A person either drinks; which means they are completely intoxicated from Friday afternoon when they are paid, until Monday morning, or if unemployed spend every cent available, including children’s grant money, on alcohol. It is not strange, even in Masakhane, to see community members drinking beer outside their houses at 8h00 in the morning in the middle of the week. There are no rehabilitation facilities or other such projects in this area that are accessible to the poor.

Option two is; the person does not drink. Not ever, not a drop. This abstinence is often accompanied by strong religious conviction, which may or may not be long term.
Quite a few people swing between these two extremes. After a negative experience whilst on a drinking binge, they return to the fold of the church for a few months, clean up and perhaps even get a job. Only to return to drinking once life seems a bit better. There seems to be only these two extremes and hardly anything in between.

There is a significant link between this kind of extreme binge drinking and irresponsible sexual behaviour. Who cares about having safe sex if you happen to get lucky after a case of lager?
This brings us to our next topic, namely the area where a little information can make the most difference in a short period of time.

3. Stakeholders

The following stakeholders have been identified, including the communities and their support structures.

· Village Power Community Development Project
· Masakhane village – our base of operations and source of performers/counsellors
· Kgetleng district department of Health - (The area of North West adjoining the Magaliesburg area) including the hospitals, clinics and home based care units working from Koster and Swartruggens
· Magaliesburg Clinic
· Magaliesburg Home Based Care – 43 volunteers caring for bedridden and other Aids patients in the Magaliesburg area
· Rustenburg based North West Social Services
· SAB Miller – support is being given with HIV peer educator training as well as HIV counsellor training
· Other potential donors
· The following loosely named communities and farms
1. Sijferbult - Oupos informal settlement
2. Cross farms dairy farm near Magaliesburg with informal settlement adjoining
3. Kalambaso and Hartley informal settlements near Magaliesburg
4. Mathopestad – rural village near Boons
5. Moloto –rural village near Boons
6. Reagile informal settlement near Koster (estimated population 16 000)
7. Skierlik and Mazista informal settlements near Swartruggens
* Skierlik deserves special mention as the settlement where a man recently walked into the settlement and shot 4 people dead, including a toddler in a racially motivated attack.
8. Informal settlement near Swartruggens – to be identified by Kgetleng health department
9. The Slate factory near Swartruggens
10. La Veneziana Ice cream factory near Magaliesburg
11. Red Rock Chickens Adjoining Masakhane

4. Human and physical resources

· SAB Miller training resources for NOAH life skills and HIV/Aids counselling
· Training in HIV/Aids medical information and on the spot HIV testing has been offered by both Magaliesburg and Swartruggens HIV clinics
· An undertaking by Swartruggens medical staff that they have all the necessary medication to treat any person who needs ARV treatment. (There is at present still insufficient staff to treat a sudden overwhelming need however.)
· HIV counselling training and general counselling skills, as well as ongoing debriefing for actors/counsellors will be offered by Ms. Sam Savage (Social Worker)
· Various community members have been involved in the performing arts on an amateur level.
· Doctor Molefe Pheto, renowned human rights activist and music and drama expert has offered his help in perfecting the plays, direction and preparing actors.
· Ms. Savage has an extensive drama background including a BA(drama) from UP and was also previously employed as a social worker at a rehabilitation centre for addicts (including alcohol abuse)
· UNESCO format document on how to produce this form of theatre effectively.
· Daily examples from which to source situations to place before our audiences
· Slate factory has promised support when we work in their area
· Various functional cell phones
· Willing and able individuals from the Masakhane community who are willing to contribute 9 months of their lives to make this project work.

This work is so important to this community that we have started training and rehearsal already, even though at present we have no confirmed backup or sponsorship.

5. Objectives

The objectives of this project are:

Regarding HIV/Aids

- To familiarise our audience with the concept that Aids is treatable
- to encourage a culture of voluntary testing
- and to get 50% of eligible individuals onto the government sponsored ARV programme.
- To give to our community a deeper understanding of the details of how HIV/AIDS works, how it affects their own lives, and then
- leading them to finding their own solutions to these conditions within the cultural paradigm.

Regarding responsible drinking

· To introduce our audience to the concept of responsible drinking and
· strengthen the concept of taking responsibility for oneself, one’s job and one’s health, as opposed to the radical approach of all or nothing drinking.
· To focus on the overwhelming link between irresponsible drinking and contracting HIV.

Regarding personal value and human rights

· To create within our audience a sense of one’s own value.
· To make people feel that their opinions are important, that they count, that they are worth listening to.
· To give our audience the self-confidence to stand firm when they face blatant disregard for their own human rights and personal value.

Overall: To create in our audience the awareness that

things do not always have to be the way they are now.

6. Mobilisation: What are we going to do about it?

We are going to play!


We are in the process of creating plays that put difficult situations regarding our various targets in front of an audience. They are based on the UNESCO document “Act, learn and teach, Theatre HIV and Aids toolkit for youth in Africa” as well as the teachings of Augusto Boal who first developed this form of theatre

Here’s the deal:
We play, then you play, then we talk.

This deal is made before the play starts.

The audience is confronted with a possible scenario from their own lives. They are then coaxed into solving the problems in the piece in a way that suits their own culture and life situation. To ensure understanding, we have developed a system of working in Se Tswana and English at the same time, as the area is Tswana speaking, but with many African international guests who are proficient in English.

All contributors are given a hearing and audience members become physically involved in the process of problem solving and acting it out. Significant factual information is brought across in a non-prescriptive and even a comic way.

After the process of finding a solution, there is a discussion and agreement is reached on which solution is most suitable for the specific community.

First show:
Our recent research has shown that there is no information baseline regarding HIV or responsible drinking. We will therefore probably use the first show slightly differently; having each actor work with a small group of people and sharing information so as to establish this baseline. It is essential that we share this extremely basic information in a way that the audience can understand, believe and accept. This will mean taking into consideration the inherent rural knowledge, the culture and the background of the community.
Once people have seen a play, they often feel an affinity with the characters. For this reason, every single actor will be trained as an HIV/AIDS counsellor as well as being given significant insight into counselling for Alcoholism and general counselling skills by Ms. Savage.

Every month, for 6 months, we will return to a location with a new situation. We have chosen 9 locations to start with.

To establish long-term sustainability, we will arrange paid performances at schools or factories for example. This can only happen once we have ensured a professional level of performance from actors, and proven the programme effective. Every 6 months, we can target a new area and the programme can run indefinitely once the set up cost has been covered.

7. Requirements

a) Rehearsal fees for 6 people for 1 month of full time rehearsal.
b) Stipend for the next 6 months needed depending on how many paid shows can be arranged.
c) Sound equipment: radio microphones and receivers as well as an eight channel amplifier and speakers. The quote was developed by Mr Tiaan Newman who is responsible for the SAB Gig Rig. Mr Newman can source equipment at a much reduced rate through SAB entertainment. Since SAB has been willing to assist us thus far in other areas, we felt this sourcing method would be most effective.
d) A generator and fuel - correct size and type to support the sound equipment is 4Kva.
e) Food – an army just as an acting company, runs on it’s stomach. We will be physically busy all day and wish to arrange a R50.00 per person budget for meals once we are on the road. This can fall away once the team becomes self-sustaining.
f) The SAB Miller HIV peer educator course and HIV counselling course will be offered by Ms. Savage – any remuneration would be appreciated.
g) Funding to book a minibus-taxi for every day of play. This is the most cost effective and efficient mode of transport. The driver we have arranged has a public transport license, and this means that vehicle insurance is the responsibility of the owner.
h) Administration and book keeping costs
i) 2 Vodacom Cell phone contracts for basic communication and administrative purposes. Our area is mostly without Telkom lines because of cable theft and cell phones are the only means of communication.
j) Management Fee for Sam Savage. Her duties include research, marketing, fundraising, training counsellors and debriefing counsellors, creative direction of the plays, arranging appointments, training our booking agent as well as group evaluation of the programme on an ongoing basis.

Once off costs

Rehearsal fees @ R2000.00 per person
R 12,000.00

Props etc
R 5,000.00

Sound equipment
R 97,000.00

Generator
R 5,500.00

Life skills training - covered already
R 0.00

HIV/AIDS Counselling course
R 7000.00

Printing and office
R 5,000.00




Total initial outlay

R 131.,500.00



Monthly Running costs – only for first project


S&T (Meals)
R 4,000.00

Celphone contracts
R 800.00

Book keeping
R 150.00

Transport @ R600 p/acting day incl. petrol
R 6,000.00

Actor's stipend @ R800.00 p/p/p/month x 6
R 4,800.00

Management fee Sam Savage
R 5,000.00




Cost per month
R 20,750.00




Cost for 6 months running:

R 124,500.00



Total cost of project

R 256,000.00

After the first 6 month project, all running costs can be covered by paid shows, allowing us to do unpaid shows on alternate dates at informal settlements etc.

8. Management


Other significant management functions will be performed as follows:

a) The day to day management will be handled by the drama team with the support of Sam Savage.
b) Trainee booking agent (a member of the Masakhane community) – will use one cell phone to arrange dates, communities and site visits before the day of performance. If the person is appointed in time she/he may help with arrangements for training and preparation as well. This person will also be responsible for certain marketing duties such as procurement of flyers etc.
c) Book keeping – records will be kept by all involved of all financial transactions and formal bookkeeping will be done by the Village Power book keeper at the address in Brixton given at the top of this proposal. These books are available for perusal at all times.
d) External director of play – Dr. Molephe Pheto
e) External advisor in general – Ms. Sonja vd Vyver

9. Planning and evaluation schedule

Activity
Description
Persons
Date
Needs assessment
Contact communities and do needs assessement
Sam
Done
Contact Masakh.
Familiarise with Masakhane and interested persons
Com. & Sam & Sonia vd Vyver
Done
Decide on group
Establish which persons will be taking part
Com. & Sam & Sonia
Done
Start drama training
Start training group and developing plays
Sam & Group
Initiated
Complete proposals
Draw up proposals for funding from potential donors
Sam
Done
Proposals to SABM
Present project to potential donors
Sam and Sonja
May 09
Proposals to others
Finalise arrangements with funding agency, present etc.
Sam and Sonja
June 09
Funding approved
Financial support confirmed
SAB Miller & other donors
June 09
Start NOAH Life skills
10 week life skills course where actors are included
Sonja & Community
End March 09
Start HIV counsell.
HIV peer educator and Counselling course (SABM) offered by Sam
Sam & Group
May 09
Complete plays
Finalise storylines and basic drama skills
Sam & Group
May 09
Full time rehearsal
1 month of paid full time rehearsal, 5 days a week – irrelevant of donations
Sam & Group
May08
Vehicles and equip.
Vehicles and equipment arranged/bought and ready to use
All
01-July-09
First production
The show is on the road 1st show at Masakhane
All
02-Jun-09
free shows
9 shows at 9 inf. Settlements per month. No charge to audience.
Team
June to December 09
Paid productions
Dependent on arrangements
Team
June to December 09

Id new persons
ID interested parties for training and participation
Team
From August 09




EVALUATION
Evaluation of success of drama programme according
to a significant increase in ARV programme participation as measured by Kgetleng health district, as well as community based participatory research as previously conducted in Masakhane village.
Reduction according to SAPS in alcohol related problems
Eval. According to questioning of audience members
Original team plus new members
Dec.09 Jan2010