01 September 2006
	Positive Health PROTECTION FOR THE HUMAN ASSETS By Linda Stafford

CC Africa's greatest asset is its people - a fact confirmed by guest feedback. So three years ago it decided it had to do something about what poses the biggest threat to them: HIV/Aids. But because of the stigma associated with the virus, the company had to be delicate in its approach. Roelene Beumer, regional director for all managed lodges in SA, is the person who helped develop and oversee CC Africa's preventative health-care programme. "We decided to call it Positive Health and to treat all staff the same way whether or not they were HIV-positive. The idea was to improve the health of everyone in a lodge or community - and, by extension, prolong the lives of those with HIV/Aids. After all, people suffering from illnesses ranging from stomach ulcers to diabetes and TB would also benefit from a primary health-care programme." Beumer enlisted the help of research psychologist Neil Orr and therapist David Patient, who has lived with HIV since 1983. The two produced the booklet The Healer Inside You and the programme Positive Health. A booklet titled Positively CC Africa was also produced for every CC Africa staff member. The programme is essentially an empowerment one. It enlightens communities about the benefits of good nutrition - people on antiretrovirals (ARVs) are in particular need of a healthy diet - and a positive outlook on life. "It started with the training of 240 staff and community members to become Positive Health champions," says Beumer. "After the courses, they were sent back to the lodges and communities to share what they had learnt with others." She adds that it was no good simply telling them to eat this or that vitamin or vegetable. "We had to find some way of explaining the immune system." Good nutrition is not something that comes naturally to the Masai, for instance, who just about live on meat, milk and blood. But Beumer and her team have persuaded Masai women to plant vegetable gardens. Positive Health also sources and supplies immune-strengthening and medicinal plants for communities such as Sutherlandia (more commonly known as the cancer bush) and the nutritional porridge ePap. Hope, she adds, is almost as powerful an antidote. "To this end, we're launching a soccer drive called Goal for Life in our lodges and communities. We're getting soccer legends to our lodges to host Positive Health soccer days and give our people soccer clinics."