She had to pay rent of R2500 for their personal accommodation, but the hospice also assisted her by giving them food parcels and so on.
The circumstances of the family were not good; they all stayed in one room in an old building that had no lights, toilets not working and big rodents roaming freely all over. Hlengiwe’s mother stayed with her at night, but during the day the children did not go to school and the 8 year old boy was said to be roaming around the streets from 08h00 up until 22h00.
Hlengiwe was on a heavy amount of treatment for her TB, treatment such as ARVs and drug resistant TB treatment. Hlengiwe was always in bed, unable to cook or bathe her children, so instead her oldest daughter, who was only 11 years old was the main carer for her siblings.
During the months between February and March, Hlengiwe struggled with her condition, and the hospice tried to make things easier for her by providing her with bread, clothes and pastoral care. The support was continued during this time of struggle for Hlengiwe.
Unfortunately Hlengiwe passed away on the 3 June 2014 and was buried at Avalon cemetery in Soweto. Her children were later taken to KwaZulu-Natal to stay with their granny. Although this proved to be a very tough time for the granny to experience and go through, she did however comment on how impressed she was with the care and support provided by hospice and the MES Impilo Hospice and TB Home-based carers.
Poverty remains one of the factors that determine TB patient outcomes. This, together with other co-morbidities contribute to increased mortality rates, however what this story does is to illustrate the principle of palliative care which is holistic care for both patient and family. Even if patients ultimately die, as they will, they die having been cared for.
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