To call Hamburg a small rural village is not to exaggerate. It has just fewer than 100 permanent residents and no real road sign indicating the turn off to it. It can only be reached by dirt roads that can range from smooth to almost impassable depe
The patients are treated with medication known as antiretrovirals. These do not cure the patients but suppress the virus in their blood, which allows their immune system to recover. Antiretrovirals is a long-term treatment as the patients will need
Patients of the treatment centre gather with members of the local community to dance and pray. Although the treatment centre is largely secular most of the patients and the community are christians and they use this as a way to keep the patients sp
Saturday is salon day at the treatment centre. On these days volunteers from the nearby villages come to the treatment centre and treat the patients to hair care and other pampering.
Peter, a volunteer from England, helps an incapacitated patient perform exercises to prevent his muscles atrophying. The centre relies quite heavily on foreign aid for both staff and for financial means.
Treating HIV & AIDS is not confined to the physical and medical; another integral aspect is psychological counselling for all those living with the virus from the patients themselves to their family members and partners. Here, Babalwa, an order
Staff at the treatment centre.
The patients are treated with medication known as antiretrovirals. These do not cure the patients but suppress the virus in their blood, which allows their immune system to recover. Antiretrovirals is a long-term treatment as the patients will need
In these images Rachel, a Canadian nurse working at the treatment centre, shows Luleka, a young mother from a neighbouring rural community, some of the skills of motherhood. The child is named after Rachel as she was responsible for her birth on th
Luleka looks on as her mother encourages baby Rachel to stand. This image was taken over a year later and thanks to Luleka’s treatment with antiretrovirals found both Luleka and Rachel healthy. Unfortunately, Luleka was finding the transition to si
Nurse at the Hamburg Treatment Centre.
This patient had been bedridden within the treatment centre for over 6 months due to a combination of opportunistic infections and tuberculosis. After returning home for a brief period he returned he returned where I photographed him being examined
This patient had  been bedridden within the treatment centre for over 6 months due to a combination of opportunistic infections and tuberculosis. After returning home for a brief period he returned he returned where I photographed him being e
The treatment centre has a vegetable garden that it uses to feed the patients that come to the centre. Here the gardener stands with all the rainwater they collected, which they will use to water the vegetables.
Poverty is a serious problem in Hamburg and the neighbouring communities. Hamburg itself has a population of just under 100 and most of those rely on government grants and pensions.
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