<\/p>\n

Most if not all 10 international Lilly ambassadors would agree \u2013 they had a life-changing experience during their two week stay with the Donald Woods Foundation at Hobeni in October 2015.<\/p>\n

The group \u2013 from six different countries \u2013 formed part of Lilly\u2019s Connecting Hearts Abroad (CHA) global service programme.<\/p>\n

Following a week of total immersion in the day-to-day work of the Lilly-funded Health in Every Hut (HiEH) programme, the ambassadors also joined hands with community life in the immediate surroundings of the Donald Woods Centre at Hobeni.<\/p>\n

The ambassadors\u2019 commitment to healthy living was in daily evidence as they embarked on neighbourhood jogs. A firm favourite were the after school football matches with local school kids and games with children at local homesteads.<\/p>\n

However it was not all play as the ambassadors joined teams of community health outreach workers (CHOWs) for daily screenings and work at clinics, often involving long hikes to outlying homesteads in a region where roads are few and far between.<\/p>\n

On the last day of their stay, the four working groups of ambassadors presented training workshops for DWF staffers on issues such as presentation skills and ways to advocate healthy living to the elderly and the youth.<\/p>\n

All paid tribute to the work of the DWF, particularly the Chows in the HiEH programme which the Lilly ambassadors described as exemplary with impressive milestones such as 34 102 people in 7 813 homesteads having been screened and 10 078 people visited in follow-up visits to date.<\/p>\n

The ambassadors were: Randall Dick, Denis Finney, Kate van Brunt, Powell Hickman, Matthew Caffrey (all from the USA); Janet Tseng (Canada); Karen Ambriz (Mexico); Claudia Eichholtz (Germany); Adrien Sipos (Hungary) and Luka Plesec (Slovenia).<\/p>\n

Their farewell messages read:<\/p>\n

Matt Caffrey: DWF. Thank you for being an amazing example of great people doing great things \u2013 and for sharing it with us.<\/em>
\nPowell E. Hickman: DWF, we see great things ahead. Good luck and many thanks.<\/em>
\nKate van Brunt: DWF, 14 days in and I continue to be in awe of the amazing work you are doing here. Keep it up \u2013 thanks for the amazing experience and memories. Hope to be back very soon!<\/em>
\nDenis Finney: DWF, thank you for all the wonderful hospitality and life-changing experiences \u2013 ours and the people of the Mbashe district.<\/em>
\nRandall Dick: Thanks for the chance to do something life-changing. I hope the ripple last here and back in the USA. I will try to \u201cpass it on\u201d.<\/em>
\nKaren Ambriz: DWF. Thanks for giving hope to the Eastern Cape and everybody who meets you. You\u2019re doing incredible things.\u00a0<\/em>
\nJanet Tseng: To everyone at DWF, thank you for letting us be a part of your amazing organisation. I will never forget you!<\/em>
\nAdrien Sipos: \u201cPoverty is not a matter of charity, it\u2019s a matter of justice.\u201d \u2013 Nelson Mandela. DWF, thank you for working so hard and so effectively on this mission. You are incredible people and thank you for the 14-day experience.<\/em>
\nLuka Plesec: Nothing has changed my life as this experience will! Thank you for being a great host and making it happen.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

How HiEH works<\/strong>
\nTeams of Chows visit homesteads to\u00a0screen for a range of health issues such as TB, hypertension, diabetes, HIV, maternal and\u00a0child health issues (including orphans and vulnerable children) and dementia. Those found at risk are referred to local clinics. Continued care of those screened then takes place, together with on-going identification of at-risk residents by embedded Chows living and working in the communities. A clinic support team consisting of a doctor, professional nurse and data capturers provide support to the clinics in the four programme area. There is also a dedicated team which undertakes health awareness and education programmes in schools using drama and other tools to promote behavioural change on a range of issues.<\/p>\n

For more on the Eli Lilly Connecting Hearts Abroad programme, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most if not all 10 international Lilly ambassadors would agree \u2013 they had a life-changing […]<\/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":[113,128,140],"tags":[161,139,160],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7DEjh-1aA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2406,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/exercise-is-medicine\/","url_meta":{"origin":4500,"position":0},"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":4257,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/dwf-hosts-eli-lilly-volunteers\/","url_meta":{"origin":4500,"position":1},"title":"DWF hosts Eli Lilly volunteers","date":"November 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"15 November 2014 A team of international Lilly ambassadors spent two weeks at the Donald Woods Centre during October and November as part of Lilly\u2019s Connecting Hearts Abroad global service programme. 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They got to experience the daily struggles to access primary health care faced by the majority living\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Community building"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/IMG_0049.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4180,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/dwf-mdr-tb-ambassador-to-feature-in-new-lilly-film\/","url_meta":{"origin":4500,"position":3},"title":"DWF MDR-TB ambassador to feature in new Lilly film","date":"May 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"XDR-TB survivor Xolelwa Joni (left) chats with her elder sister Fezeka Joni (middle) and Thandekile Essien (right), Programme Officer for Lilly SA's MDR-TB Partnership in the yard of her Duncan Village home.\u00a0Photo - Barbara Manning Soon the world will hear the incredible story of former Donald Woods Foundation peer-educator and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xolelwa_lilly-film-2-1-e1463657187191.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4189,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/heritage-valley-taking-shape\/","url_meta":{"origin":4500,"position":4},"title":"Heritage Valley – a community asset","date":"May 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Heritage Valley consists of four large Xhosa huts set in a natural sloped amphitheatre surrounded by trees to the immediate south of Wendy Woods House, the operational headquarters of the Foundation\u2019s work in the Mbashe district. The idea behind the development is to provide a natural space for large community\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Citizenship and active democracy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/heritage-valley-2-1-e1463657437351.jpg?fit=1105%2C828&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4253,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/donald-woods-reburied-at-ancestral-home-in-transkei\/","url_meta":{"origin":4500,"position":5},"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. 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