Everyone Can Care 4 Soweto

Care 4 Soweto provides a way for everyone to be connected with the work of the Soweto Hospice and to continue the compassion at work through their donations.

Soweto’s Need Is Great

With over 1300 deaths due to HIV/AIDS every week, the entire community is devastated. The economy is in shambles. The number of orphaned children is enormous. There is no government support for hospice services. This is why Care 4 Soweto is so important. In addition to raising much needed funds for the work of the Soweto Hospice.

The Soweto Hospice cares for 700 patients per day in their homes and in the hospice inpatient unit. Unlike US hospices, the Soweto Hospice is challenged by more than just providing excellent home care to patients.

Soweto Hospice staff also provides orphan care as thousands of children in Soweto are AIDS orphans, many of them infected themselves. The hospice runs a child day care center where more than 150 children who are infected with HIV/AIDS or orphaned by AIDS can come and receive meals, education, spiritual support and physical care. More than 70% of the children in day care are receiving anti-retrovirals for their own AIDS infection.

Soweto Hospice also provides adult day care centers where 30 to 40 patients per day come for a hot meal, socialization, medical and spiritual support.

Since poverty is such an issue in Soweto…more than 60% are unemployed…Soweto Hospice staff provide medical supplies, pain medication and food parcels as they visit families living in shanty towns with no electricity or plumbing.

In 2007, Soweto Hospice opened a 24 bed inpatient unit that houses 16 adults and 8 pediatric children who are too sick to remain at home.

Amidst the challenges of poverty, homelessness, hunger, joblessness, crime and the eradication of two generations of South African blacks, the Soweto Hospice stands as a beacon of hope to those suffering with AIDS and cancer in Soweto. It is the mission of the South African hospice committee at The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, to stand beside our “sister” hospice and to provide whatever we can to lessen their load.

In 2009, a group of volunteers from The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, will self-fund their trip, and journey to South Africa to spend 2 weeks with our partner hospice once again.