Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, 2009. Some young local women have taken up responsibility, they walk from house to house to help those in need. 145 People living in the rural area around Manguzi, organized in the NGO Tholulwazi Uzivikele, take care of their fellow-villagers. They try to educate on HIV testing, HIV treatments and condom use in the hope to  break the deep-seated isolation of the HIV positive. Abused and abandoned children are located so these can be helped with food provision, school uniforms or housing. They offer people a window to knowledge and welfare. Knowing the cultural habits with their weak and strong sides, these volunteers have a very strong influence.

Around 11 a.m. one of the volunteers, Rose (32), arrives at Ndabeni’s house. The door is locked, she peers through a tiny window. A penetrating smell of excrements and festering wounds surrounds her. An old woman lying lifeless on the ground is staring emptily at Rose. Through the window she helps herself in. Ndabeni (78) was left in her hut to die after she got hit by a car. Since Rose found her, she passes by twice a week to nurse her wounds and change the sheets.

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