4 April 2015<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

At two years old,\u00a0Okuhle Nkonyana\u00a0had failed to reach even the most modest developmental milestones. Severely malnourished, she weighed just 4kg, considerable less than the 10-12kg average for her age group.<\/p>\n

The Donald Woods Foundation became aware of Okuhle\u2019s desperate situation during a routine Health in Every Hut health screening visit to the grandparents\u2019 homestead.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of the worst cases (of malnutrition) I\u2019ve seen,\u201d says Zanele Mkhwenkwe, a DWF Community Health Outreach Worker (CHOW), who now provides follow-up care to the family. \u201cShe was so, so tiny. We were very worried about her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abandoned by her mother and left in the care of elderly grandparents, Okuhle faced a desperate future \u2013 but one not uncommon in the deeply rural areas of the Transkei, where deep, life-threatening poverty remains rife.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was with her grandparents, but they are elderly and could not look after her properly,\u201d Zanele recalls.<\/p>\n

With two small government pensions their only income, the grandparents were battling financially, and the little girl quickly fell further and further behind, both physically and developmentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we found her, she was only just crawling a little. She could not walk and wasn\u2019t eating any solids. We immediately arranged for her to go to the clinic, where she was given her inoculations and also stated on vitamins and supplements.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In addition to arranging for her immediate health needs to be addressed, the DWF team has also helped the family to apply for and access a government child care grant, which is going towards feeding and clothing the little girl.<\/p>\n

As an embedded CHOW, Zanele, who also lives in the area she works, has developed a close relationship with the family, and visits them regularly to assess their needs and ensure Okuhle is thriving.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go the family every week or two weeks, to make sure she is OK, and to help the family if there are any problems. She is responding very well now. She has gained weight and is walking and playing. When we first saw her, she was just lying down and crying a lot. Now she plays and is like a normal, happy little girl.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4 April 2015 At two years old,\u00a0Okuhle Nkonyana\u00a0had failed to reach even the most modest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[113,128,104,129],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7DEjh-16S","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4253,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/donald-woods-reburied-at-ancestral-home-in-transkei\/","url_meta":{"origin":4270,"position":0},"title":"Donald Woods reburied at ancestral home in Transkei","date":"September 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Internationally acclaimed anti-apartheid activist and former Daily Dispatch editor Donald Woods has been reburied, alongside his wife Wendy and their infant son Lindsay, at Woods\u2019 ancestral home in Hobeni in the former Transkei. Woods, whose perilous friendship with Steve Biko was the subject of Sir Richard Attenborough\u2019s Oscar-nominated film Cry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Citizenship and active democracy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4281,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/dwf-partners-with-dementia-sa\/","url_meta":{"origin":4270,"position":1},"title":"DWF partners with Dementia SA","date":"August 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The Donald Woods Foundation has entered into a groundbreaking partnership with Dementia SA to bring care and support to dementia sufferers and their families in our areas of operation. DWF Community Health Outreach Workers (Chows) are being trained by Dementia SA staff to accurately and sensitively identify people suffering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2406,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/exercise-is-medicine\/","url_meta":{"origin":4270,"position":2},"title":"Exercise is medicine","date":"January 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Lilly researcher and Connecting Hearts Abroad 2015 ambassador Randall Dick writes about his experience bringing the message that exercise\u00a0IS\u00a0medicine during his stay with the Donald Woods Foundation at Hobeni. Randall was one of a group of 10 Lilly volunteers who spent two weeks at Hobeni at the Donald Woods Centre\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Centre"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/exercise-girl.jpg?fit=800%2C534&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4279,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/case-study-mama-b-saved-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":4270,"position":3},"title":"CASE STUDY: ‘Mama B Saved My Life’","date":"July 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"1 July 2015 Two year ago,\u00a0Nongilani Pokolwana\u00a0was pain-ridden and increasingly anxious about her failing health. The 56-year-old mother of three had developed severe, debilitating chest and back pain, which had left her unable to carry out even the most basic of household chores. Repeated visits to her local clinic in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Mama-B-saved-my-life-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4306,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/busy-week-of-visitors-to-dwc-at-hobeni-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4270,"position":4},"title":"Busy week of visitors to DWC at Hobeni","date":"November 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"30 November 2015 The first week of December 2015 sees a number of visitors staying at and enjoying the facilities at the Donald Woods Centre at Hobeni. The first is the UK-based maternal health clinician, Dr Kim Turner who is heading up a group of Obstetrics and Gynaecology doctors who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Centre"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4504,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/marrying-western-medicine-with-indigenous-knowledge\/","url_meta":{"origin":4270,"position":5},"title":"Marrying western medicine with indigenous knowledge","date":"July 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr Gubela Mji of Stellenbosch University leads a village elder to the Indigenous Health Conference at the Donald Woods Centre at Hobeni. Almost 100 traditional healers, village elders, chiefs, community leaders and residents took part in an Indigenous Health Conference at the Donald Woods Centre at Hobeni over the weekend.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Citizenship and active democracy"","img":{"alt_text":"website front page","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/website-front-page.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4270"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}