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A HEARTFELT PROJECT OF HOPA |
HEADWAY OUTREACH PROJECT ALEXANDRA (KHOMELELA)
We're very excited to annouce that we've started a heartfelt project with the Headway Outreach Project in Alexandra (HOPA). A welfare organisation dedicated to offering various support programme's to survivors of Acquired Brain Injury, including Traumatic Brain Injury.
In March 2009 Heartfelt was contacted when a patient arrived at HOPA from Makapanstad. She had had a car accident and while doing research to find out more about where she came from, Headway came across our website. Due to the dire socio-economic situations of attendees and members at HOPA Khomelela, the fieldworker and therapists are constantly finding ways to assist them with income generation, whether through craft and skills training at the activity centre or entrepreneurial training through organisations such as Heartfelt. Our little hearts aim to give these incredible pleople hope and in turn, bring hope to many others.
Headway presently has two branches - their main branch in Hyde Park and their outreach branch (Khomelela) in Alexandra (HOPA). Their aim is to eventually have satellite groups in all the main centres, as soon as funding permits. With no assistance from the government, all their funding initiatives are from private or corporate donations instigated from within their small organisation.
The following services are provided:
· A family support group consisting of hundreds of families from a diverse range of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Each family has someone dear to them living with a brain injury.
· A lay counseling service and a small telephone call centre which provides one-on-one counseling to families.
· A holistic fully inclusive activity/therapy day programme at both their branches which provides injured members with a structured, productive day where stimulating and enjoyable activities and social skills can be practiced, under the supervision of fully trained therapists, ably assisted by a team of volunteers from the community. Headway is recognised as a training institution by both the Occupational and Speech Therapy Departments at Wits University who use their facilities as a practical site for their students. Headway is also affiliated to the Wits Health Consortium for continued professional development for therapists.
Khomelela has been running successfully since October 2004 at the Alexandra Health Centre and University Clinic (33 Arkwright Avenue, Wynberg). Khomelela is a fully sponsored outreach project, meaning that the attendees are not required to pay membership fees or attendance fees. Khomelela is run by a full time fieldworker and an assistant and has a team of dedicated therapists and volunteers. The offices are open 5 days a week and the activity centre operates daily. Transport within Alexandra is available to the attendees and a hot midday meal is provided.
In addition, they hold frequent awareness campaigns within Alexandra at clinics and other community organisations. The purpose of these campaigns is to educate the community about brain injury and to source those families in need of Headway’s services.
WORKING TOGETHER
The HOPA group came out to do a workshop with Martha, Julie & the ladies in May and the whole day turned out to be an incredible get together for everyone.
 
 
Martha and the ladies are very excited about the new project and feel very touched to be working with this special group. They said that through the workshop they've learnt how precious life is and how easily it can be taken away. Martha showed them how to create their heartfelt designs and we just can't wait to see the final product. They're working on the first Heartfelt card range, so look out for it on the website end of July.
 
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