September 23 - September 27, 2024 - This trip is full! Applications are not accepted at this time.
Northern Cape, South Africa
About the Trip: Global First Responder is proud to partner once more with Dr Errol Visser, FCFP FRCEM, to bring a multidisciplinary team of South African physicians, clinical nurse practioners, mental health specialists, dentists, optometrists, social workers, OB nurses, physiotherapists, and non-medical volunteers. The team will deploy to the the Northern Cape, bordering on Namibia within the Kalahari, the second oldest desert on earth.
The Northern Cape is a large geographic area with isolated towns, harsh climatic conditions, and a healthcare system with poor geographic reach. The border area is extremely rural, with limited healthcare opportunities for farm workers and other rural communities. The poverty is extreme and poorly supplied, with the primary population displaced or previously persecuted people. For most, the healthcare system is inaccessible with long waiting times and limited transportation options. We are fortunate to have a counseling social worker to provide a more comprehensive service to our patients.
Sustainability: Building on work started in 2021, the emphasis of the mission is to augment mainly nurse-led health care in the farming and rural communities of the Northern Cape. These communities are far flung from most referral centres. Our emphasis is to bring a multi-disciplinary team to the community, to bring a different expertise to bear and to effect appropriate referrals while also assisting to strengthen existing healthcare networks towards sustainability of our efforts.
We will be conducting clinic visits on local farms, where the workers and their families are mostly migrants from neighboring provinces, for 4 half days. For 6 half days we will provide care in the border post settlements (3rd visits), informal settlements (2nd visits) , and Kakamas hospital in conjunction with the small district hospital. The emphasis continues to be on building and strengthening referral networks, and increasing community involvement, allowing more people to access services and to catalyze a patient-driven improvement in health care through education and government partnerships.
GFR’s partnership with Dr. Visser and his team has helped bring much needed education on gender based violence, domestic violence and substance abuse to the farming communities of the Northern Cape. The population are descendants of the San, one of the oldest civilizations known to us. The San peoples, or Bushmen, are members of various Khoe, Tuu, or Kxʼa-speaking indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures that are the first cultures of Southern Africa, and whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and South Africa. Due to economic and cultural persecution, they have now been relegated to the poorest of the communities. Their culture goes back 30 000 years in this area.
What’s Included: We are currently not accepting applications for this trip. We are accepting donations which will be used locally in the villages where we are working. In addition to your donation, GFR also provides a separate donation to our partner organization for medications, transportion, prescription glasses, and general supplies.
Please join us in this effort by making a donation here: www.globalfirstresponder.org/donors and specifying “South Africa” in the donor form.
How is your cost calculated?: At Global First Responder we strive to keep your costs low and our quality high. We value your participation and willingness to volunteer your time and expertise. Everyone at Global First Responder is also a volunteer, donating their time to administrative tasks and paying their own way to participate in medical and construction missions around the world and here at home. The fee you pay covers the actual cost of your expenses in country including lodging, transportation, meals, and translator fees and expenses. At GFR, no one is paid a salary and everyone is a passionate volunteer, doing our part to help drive our mission of “One World, One Family”.
Cost: There is no cost for this trip. Your donation to “South Africa” is 100% tax deductible as no individual will benefit from your donation. Our hard-working partners truly appreciate your help in raising funds to benefit the marginalized and impoverished families in the communities they serve.
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