The Donald Woods Foundation (DWF) works in the most severely deprived and isolated areas of South Africa’s Eastern Cape where millions survive without piped water, sewage systems, electricity, roads or public transport. In parts of the region, unemployment runs to 89%, and most people live at or below subsistence level. One of the challenges of the local community is fighting non-communicable diseases and Lilly SA is partnering with DWF to assist communities with this. This project is referred to as their NCD Partnership. This is the home of Mashinie Ntayithethwa, born in 1936. He has lived in the Hobeni area all his life. He worked in Rustenburg in the Northwest Province on the mines, but now that he is retired, he is back home. He was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when his employer asked him why he was so forgetful and why he had so little energy and sent him to the doctor. This was in 1994 when Nelson Mandela was released and South Africa became a democracy. He has type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. He goes to his nearest clinic to get medication and when he has symptoms that worry him. At the clinic they told him he mustn’t eat chicken skins and read meat, and he must rather have fish, pork and chicken breasts. They also told him he can eat anything that has green in it, so he has lots of cabbage and spinach. He feels much more energetic since he follows their advice. He works outside on the fence, feeds the chickens and chops wood, but he gets tired quickly. He walks to the clinic when he doesn’t feel good and it takes him about 45 minutes to get there. He rests on is way when he gets tired. His biggest problem is the fact that often he is not allowed to eat before he goes to the clinic, so they can do tests, and then it is very difficult for him to undertake the journey. Walking with an empty stomach is tough. He looks forward to home visits as this gives him the opportunity to discuss his health with the staff. He doesn’t know how or why one gets diabetes, but he tries to warn members of the community not to gain too much weight and he does do some cardiovascular exercises by stepping up and down on a large brick.
