Swaziland: Making a link between care work and gender violence

My experience in care has taught me that care work needs one to be good with people, and good at getting them to trust you. You also need good analytical skills, knowledge of the legal system, excellent communication skills, and knowledge of cultural issues.

I am a nurse by profession and due to the experience I have working as a nurse in rural areas, I have registered an organisation called Membatsise Home-based Care.

This is a community-based organisation that deals with care for those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS, including men, women and children. We have a holistic approach in our care work by providing care and support, door to door counselling and caring for the sick at home. This is possible through the voluntary spirit of 300 care workers who care for more than 4500 people spread across six constituencies in Swaziland’s Hhohho region: Mayiwane, Mhlangatane, Madlangempisi, Timphisini, Ntfonjeni, and Mkhiweni.

As care workers we help the community in addressing issues including tuberculosis (which has just been declared as a second pandemic after HIV and AIDS). We also deal with issues of Gender Based Violence (GBV) by educating the community about the subject and helping them to report cases to the relevant authorities.

We recently started an empowerment programme which seeks to capacitate women and girls about GBV and its relation to HIV and AIDS. Most women have developed a thick skin towards abuse as they live with it and do not want to talk about it. This is due to various reasons, including socialisation in the Swazi context, which means that women do not reveal things that happen within their household.

A lot of women and girls have endured the highest form of abuse at the hands of family members or others yet still failed to report these occurrences for fear of more violence, victimisation, stigma, or due to lack of financial independence.

As care workers we sometimes fail to provide justice done in such cases if the GBV victims are not cooperative. Through trainings, care givers are able to refer cases to the relevant authorities including the community leaders (inner council) and others.

We have also helped financially equip women through income-generating projects and savings schemes. This seems to be working well for the women as they are relieved from financial burdens which often mean they remain victims of GBV.

During home visits for the sick, one has to carry food parcels so that the sick person can have something to eat before taking their treatment: something very challenging for a care giver that is working voluntarily with no incentives. We also need nursing materials such as gloves, sanitary pads and napkins. Some people we care for live alone and it is a must that food is provided. We give them a bath and clean the area where they sleep, which is crucial for sick people.

We also have a challenge of how we reach some sick people because most of the homesteads are not close to the road or to each other. We need transport to ferry us as we provide care work so that we can reach our clients on time and get back to our homes on time.

At first the organisation received help from a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in South Africa known as Themba Lethu, which is based at Schumann’s Dale. It provided us with nursing supplies, incentives for care workers and also paid funeral expenses for some of our clients. But due to the economic meltdown that has affected many donors they stopped giving assistance to care work.
Currently we benefit from the Swaziland Network for People living with HIV and AIDS (SWANEPHA) and the National Emergency Response Council for HIV and AIDS (NERCHA). All this financial assistance goes to administration expenditures.

Partnership in community care work is crucial and we welcome the support of World Vision, an organisation that is established in communities in the country and provides incentive to 30 care workers drawn from at least two constituencies. This is a way of encouraging the care workers to put more effort into the good work they do.

The whole idea of care work came about as a result of the many social ills facing our communities and in a bid to relieve the workload nurses incurred and also to ensure follow-up care for sick people. GBV is rife in our communities and as care workers we are doing our best to help them realise it needs to be dealt with. The government is doing something to help survivors of GBV through collaboration with NGOs working in this area. Even though there are no shelters for survivors, they do get assistance wherever possible, particularly children.

This “I” Story is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service special series on care work.