Chapter Four: The Social Presence of the DCC in the City of Durban
4.6 Transformations and restorations
4.7.3 The DCC Hope Centre Clinic: Situation and Operations
The DCC Hope Centre Clinic is situated at the DCC Berea church building.
Special refurbishment was necessary in order to prepare the space to be a city clinic. The church allows the use of its space to the public. On walking into the clinic there is an immediate sense that this clinic is different from the many other clinics scattered across the city. The waiting area is clean and well kept; there are comfortable chairs and a large coffee table that displays helpful information about health, AIDS, and the Bible. A television with a video plays live performances of the "Hill songs112" praise and worship group and other songs throughout the day for those who are in the waiting room.
One morning I walked into the clinic to the striking words of the old Pentecostal song, "Be still and know that I am God". The day begins with morning devotions for staff in order to prepare themselves for the day ahead. The volunteers and nurses sing songs of worship and pray for their patients and for the smooth running of the clinic. Dr. Rochelle Adams who is the director at the clinic and the head doctor explained, "entering a church is different from entering a clinic".
According to Adams, people feel secure, welcome and loved when they enter a church health facility.
Adams explained that the clinic enjoys a favourable reputation amongst the people who come for counselling and HIV testing. The success of the clinic has been in its advocacy for the treatment and provision of anti-retroviral medication to its patients. The DCC clinic has established a relationship with The Albert Lutuli hospital, which is a university hospital in Durban. The hospital accepts the
111 In Sunday Tribune June 27 2004:18
112 The Hill song praise and worship team has gained global recognition for its praise and worship lyrics and music. This team hails from Australia and its music is considered uplifting and therapeutic by many in Pentecostal and Charismatic circles.
DCC patients for free CD4 testing and anti-retroviral dispensing. The DCC clinic initially acquired the services of a private lab for CD4 counts, but this was costly since most of the people who required this service were unemployed and were not capable of paying. At Albert Luthuli many patients are on a waiting list for CD4 counts. Adams believes that the DCC clinic is the "only non-government organization that receives free CD4 counts". She considers that this is of great benefit to the public since the costs113 are dramatically reduced to R35 per visit in hospital, and adds that this kind of assistance shows that the Department of Health has confidence in the DCC clinic.
Adams' vision for the DCC clinic in Berea is for it to act as an operational base for a network of grass roots interventions114 throughout the Durban metropole area and the province of KwaZulu-Natal. She would like the clinic to be the
"command centre for all clinics in local areas". The DCC clinic plans to establish a network of community clinics throughout the Durban Metropole. This is not an impossible goal, since the DCC clinic would use the space of the DCC daughter churches in various communities, for example, Kwa Mashu, Phoenix, Umlazi, Chatsworth, Amanzimtoti, and Wentworth.
The DCC clinic has also recognised the need to assist informal115 AIDS orphanages and has identified certain districts in the city where struggling orphanages can be aided by the church. One area in particular is the Kwadebeka district where more than 150 households are run by children. The DCC would like to assist with staff salaries, and with project management for a suitable orphanage. The clinic has also established links with the "Feed the Babies" fund, and the Amanzimtoti development fund, both of which wish to supply the orphanages with baby food and milk products.
11J From R80 to R35 for a visit.
114 Grass roots intervention includes home-based care for HIV and AIDS sufferers and those affected by the illness of their family member/s.
115 Informal refers to the local orphanages that have started with women who just take care of children who are orphaned.
The DCC clinic at this stage prioritises the treatment and counsel of urban people; however, it does treat patients from rural areas that travel to the clinic for help after being referred by a friend. Adams estimates that around 60 % of the patients live in and around the city of Durban and notes that their peers refer the majority of the patients to the clinic. The TB clinic next door to the DCC Clinic also refers patients to the clinic.
The Durban Chamber Foundation has encouraged employers to facilitate and educate their employees about HIV testing and AIDS. The Foundation has called all major employers in the Durban area to engage in the programme it has developed, which includes counselling, CD4 counts and anti-retrovirals.
Adams is well versed in the options available to people in the city of Durban in terms of the tests, counselling and treatment of HIV and AIDS. She provides these options to the people who visit the clinic. Her personal motivation to involve herself at the DCC clinic stems from her days at medical school where she was troubled about the AIDS crisis in South Africa. She knew that she had to involve herself in the treatment and prevention of this dreaded pandemic.
Adam's style is sensitive yet professional. She believes that many medical practitioners lose sight of humanity in their treatment of people. "We seldom treat patients as people, we treat illness", she lamented. Adams insists that there is "no greater place to show the love of Christ than at an AIDS clinic because there are people who are considered promiscuous, who are despised and rejected. We can show them the love of God, we tell them that this sickness is not the end, your life is not just another statistic". Adams believes that the
"Batho Pele116" principles of South African people need to be taken seriously.
According to her the crime levels in the country have caused South Africans to become "guarded"; she reasoned that the status quo must change since HIV/AIDS possesses the potential to bring South Africans back to their community values, and realise that they are "their brother's keepers".
116 Batho Pele: a South African value system: "putting people first".
The clinic aims to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS amongst Durbanites.
Adams believes that people still underestimate the magnitude of the disease in the city. The numbers of child-headed households are a cause of concern for Adams and the DCC clinic. For Adams, the DCC clinic plays the important role of not only aiding the infected but also promoting better choices for all the citizens of Durban. She reflected thus on the behaviour and choices of the people in Durban:
What can you do to change behaviour? Behaviour is linked to choice.
All sectors of society have HIV. In order to change people we need to discover how we can influence and change their choices; we need to change their value system. I have heard that some girls will sleep with men for a "Street-Wise 2 Kentucky meal"117. No other sickness or infection has caused a crisis like this. This illness will not just take medicine, it needs societal change. Because it is fuelled by choices, this disease gets to the core of us, as human beings, which is choice.
4.7.4 HIV and AIDS and the church
Adams explained that AIDS is present in the church. She insists that radical changes are necessary in the way the church counsels married couples and those intending to marry. She offered a spirited argument as to why traditional marriage counselling is no longer applicable and explained that issues such as infidelity cannot be "counselled away or forgiven easily", since HIV infection is now a serious and present threat to the parties involved. Adams added that she had advised the DCC leadership that couples that experience marital problems owing to the sexual infidelity of one party should be encouraged to take HIV tests. The DCC makes use of a questionnaire118, which is required for all couples that go through its pre-marital programme. The questionnaire is designed to indicate the susceptibility to infection and encourage the individual to take an HIV test prior to marriage. Adams added, "faith in Christ does not mean your past will prevent you from becoming HIV positive".
117 This is a reasonably priced take-away meal from the fast-food outlet KFC.
118 See appendix U p.333
Adams discussed her need for clarification to deal with sensitive situations at the clinic. For this purpose she communicates with a bio-ethicist at the Albert Luthuli Hospital. Adams is of the opinion that South Africa "places the rights of the individual over the rights of the society". The HIV disclosure policy is a difficult terrain to navigate since some HIV positive patients continue to infect others, having no conscience about their actions.
Adams has met with the DCC leadership and discussed the impact of HIV on the city and the change in perception that needs to take place. All leadership of the DCC are required to possess at least a basic understanding of HIV and AIDS. She has seen first hand the devastation of HIV and AIDS and believes that an "injection of hope" is necessary in order to "give people a life line". At the DCC clinic, staff are motivated by "the love of Jesus". Adams explained, "Jesus was 'moved' with compassion". She added that Christians need to be "moved"
into action when there is a problem and points out that "The Bible talks about pure religion which is to take care of widows, orphans, the sick and troubled".