Blog

Hi,
We are Sasja and Pascalle. We are two nursing students and we are doing research for our thesis here in South-Africa at The Health Promoters. Right away, when we were driving from the airport to our place of residence, we passed by the huge impoverished townships. There are no proper sanitation facilities and there is a lot of garbage on the streets. Hygiene is something that not a lot of people pay attention to. There are many diseases like AIDS and HIV that occur there.
For two months, we have been able to observe the workshops that were held in the townships of Langa, Khayamandi, and Mfuleni. The women who participate in these workshops want to learn more about basic health skills in order to keep themselves and their friends/family healthy and prevent diseases. After five weeks of following the workshops, there is a graduation where they receive a certificate, which they hope will increase their chances of finding a job. The classes are taught by former participants of the workshops. We have also had the opportunity to attend a few graduations, which was a very special day to experience. All the participants were dressed up and it was a big celebration. They sang, danced, prayed, and took a lot of photos. This experience is very special for them and for us. Many participants say that it is a life-changing experience and that they are very happy to have been able to participate in the workshops.

Our research is mainly about the impact of the workshops on the participants’ lives. For this purpose, we have created a questionnaire for former participants. Once our report is written, we will pass it on to The Health Promoters.