19 highly motivated and enthusiastic young men with haemophilia attended a Leadership Training camp in Magaliesburg, South Africa, beginning of 2011. This was the first activity benefiting from the NNHF Community Award granted to Anne-Louise Cruickshank in 2010. In the following article, Tony Roberts, a SAHF (South African Haemophilia Foundation) member, shares his impressions from the camp.
The heavy downpour of predicted rain could not dampen the spirits of 19 young men who arrived at the Happy Acres Camp, in Magaliesburg, South Africa, for a weekend of learning through activities. From the start we could sense that this was going to be a weekend to remember and cherish for a long time. We were not disappointed. Happy Acres is a well run Adventure and Education Camp that specializes in school curriculum-based activities, related mainly to the Natural Science syllabus. It also caters for groups wishing to experience the enhancement of leadership skills through activities in nature. The latter was the reason why we had ventured into this part of paradise, nestled amongst a plethora of hills and streams.
The age range of this group of people with haemophilia (PWH) was 15 to 31 years. The action learning experiences that they were exposed to started immediately after a warm welcome and lunch on Day 1. A combination of lectures, mental exercises, physical challenges, day and night-excursions, all reinforced a way of enhancing good leadership. This can be summed up with the acronym POAC (planning, organizing, activating and controlling). The competent Happy Acres facilitators, under the leadership of Gerald Masia, made sure that we all enjoyed and understood the learnings of the weekend.
The SAHF facilitators also played an important role by incorporating the POAC principle into sessions where medical, psychosocial and organizational issues were explored and discussed. Participation and questions flowed freely in an environment of enquiry.
Topics covered included: general information about haemophilia and genetics; self-management of bleeding episodes; motivation to improve education; issues of advocacy and networking; organizational structures of the SAHF and WFH (World Federation of Haemophilia); and above all, the important aspect of building and strengthening the South African haemophilia community.
The commitment by participants to form networking cells for the purpose of building support and strengthening advocacy throughout the haemophilia community, could be observed with the development of friendships and the exchange of contact details. This continued throughout the weekend. Important, for the future, will be to nurture these networks and to continue to enhance leadership skills in the haemophilia community throughout South Africa.
An analysis of participants’ evaluation of the weekend revealed a 75% positive response to questions about the venue, the programme and the level of facilitation. While this is a fairly good response, there is always room for improvement.
Anne-Louise Cruickshank received the NNHF Community Award 2010 to hold ROCK camps in more regions to expand the patient network and empower young people with haemophilia (PWH) to train their fellows.
Anne-Louise has played a pivotal role in developing the ROCK (Reach Out Centres for Kids) programme, targeted to identifying potential leaders (ROCK stars) in educational workshops and encouraging young PWH to join the initiative. The ROCK programme equips the participants with knowledge, which helps them to understand their condition and improves skills to effectively manage and treat injuries. Furthermore, volunteer coordinators are put in touch with other people with the same condition in their immediate area. Her work ethic goes way beyond the call of duty in her efforts to give her patients the best possible care.
The SAHF is already planning the next camp which will take place from 14 to 16 October 2011 in Cape Town to involve 30 young haemophilia patients more.