Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - Sunday, 17 November 2002
Victor Khupiso
So she initiated a support group and used her own money to start a vegetable garden at the Alexandra Clinic in Alexandra, near Joburg .
Letwaba, 34, was jolted into action after discovering that many of her younger patients - most of whom are Aids orphans - were not attending the clinic because their parents had died and their grandparents had no knowledge of their condition.
She set up a support group for the guardians and started a vegetable garden to help feed her patients and their protectors.
Today more than 60 grandparents meet on Mondays and Wednesdays to discuss their problems.
Said Letwaba: "The grannies were suffering silently, but since coming together in this support group they are able to open up and discuss common issues."
Hunger
The nurse said the vegetable garden also helped patients cope.
"This [hunger] was a serious problem. There's nothing positive one can do if people are hungry. One has to address that problem first before people can see things differently. If they have no food they come to the clinic for vegetables," she said.
Letwaba - who received the prestigious Cecil Makiwane Award from Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa last month for her efforts - said she had been driven to act by the scale of the disaster she was witnessing in Alexandra.
" I just did what I had to do. I could not just sit back and watch people suffer," she said.
Letwaba, who lives in neighbouring posh Bryanston, said Alexandra has become her second home.
"I spend most of my time in the area. I like what I'm doing because I can see the results are positive ," she said.
Paulina Shivalo, 71 - who is looking after five grandchildren - said Ledwaba had changed her life.
Shivalo was forced to move from Polokwane in Limpopo to Joburg to look after her grandchildren following the death of their mother, her daughter, last year.
"I left everything to come and look after my grandchildren," she said. "They were alone . . . When I'm not at home I'm here at the clinic working in the garden so that I can take food to my children.
"This has given me strength. I now realise that I'm not alone in dealing with this huge burden of looking after children.
"This has helped us to share our grief, our sorrow and the other serious problems that we encounter. There is a future for us all."
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