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“You bring your own 2 litres of water … so that you don’t use up the water that the patients
or family members have saved for themselves. When you go to a house you have to work in
such a way that you improve the situation, not worsen it. So you don’t get there and start
criticizing them if they don’t have enough water, but you show them that you have brought
your own and they should try to save more next time.”
(Focus group 8, organisation H)
“When we get to our patients and find that they have no water… you have to go and fetch the
water from somewhere so that you can bath the patient. In some areas the truck comes to
supply water so we go there”. (Focus group 3 organisation C)
4.6.9 Ridicule from the community members, insecurity and demoralisation faced by the
Volunteer Caregivers.
In spite of the fact that volunteer caregivers are not paid, there has been a lot of mockery and
contempt from the members of the community. They are generally perceived as people of
low status in their communities because of doing risky jobs without any pay. This causes
frustration and demoralisation amongst volunteer caregivers which could cause them to quit
their job:
“…We are looked down upon as people who have no intelligence, as people who do not
think. They “say you are doing this job and you don’t get paid. Who can go to work for such
a risky job and not get paid? We only get stress and death?”
(Focus group 3, organisation C)
Most volunteer caregivers lost most of their fellow workers who got infected as a result of the
risky volunteer care giving work. They feared contagion and death due to insufficient
protection from infections caused by short supply of materials. More importantly, volunteer
caregivers felt demoralised to perform what they called ‘risky job’ without being paid:
“But the problem is that there is no love of doing this work because there is no money it
would be better if we at least get something. These days it is difficult to volunteer because we
were not this number, many of our fellow caregivers have died after doing this work; they got
infected, so we are not happy to keep on volunteering without getting something. The only
thing we get is death”. (Focus group 2, organisation B)
Some volunteer caregivers were also concerned about their safety while performing their
duties in the communities because they had to walk long distances to reach their patients’
homes. A participant in one focus group discussion narrated a story where they came across
patients who belonged to dangerous gangs that smoked dagga in the communities that they
served. These experiences could cause volunteer caregivers to neglect such homes as such the
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