The story of the Sambhavna Clinic, a non-profit holistic health clinic in Bhopal, India, built to treat those injured by the Union Carbide toxic gas release in 1984. enlarge video
Contact: Joshua Karliner (+1) 510-848-5343
In Memory of Nomcebo (MaMbili) Mvelase
South Africa — Nomcebo led HCWH’s South Africa Partner groundWork’s efforts to promote sustainable health care waste management. A mother, wife, daughter, friend to many she sadly passed away on Friday, the 8th of October after a fatal stabbing in the Pietermaritzburg city centre, near Durban, South Africa.
The following message is from Health Care Without Harm
We at Health Care Without Harm are deeply saddened by the loss of Nomcebo Mvelase–our colleague and friend. Many of us from around the world had the privilege to get to know and work with Nomcebo over the past several years. She inspired all of us with her dedication. She impressed all of us as she grew into her job–working with South African health care workers such as nurses like herself, to stop the pollution generated by hospitals and help create a more environmentally healthy and socially just world.
We know she gained their respect, as she did ours. We met her in South Africa, and she came to work with us in places like India and Geneva. Everywhere she went she brought with her a positive attitude and warm smile.
All of us, her colleagues in the Philippines, Latin America, India, Europe, the United States and Africa will miss Cebo deeply. We send our most sincere condolences to her family and our solidarity to all of her community in South Africa.
With much love on behalf of the HCWH Global Team
More about Nomcebo’s work can be found at the Nurse Luminary Project
The following are words spoken by Bobby Peek, groundWork founder and director at Nomcebo’s memorial.
Nomcebo was young and full of life – quick to make a witty comment and share a joke. She was also at an exciting stage of her life personally and professionally. She was about to move into a new house and she was establishing her career. For her work she was respected and known both locally and globally. She was fearless, feisty and sensitive but always ready for a challenge. We miss our Sister.
Nomcebo entered our lives at groundWork in February 2007 when we interviewed her for the Waste Campaign Manager’s post. Nomcebo so impressed us that she was offered the Health Care Waste Campaign Manager position which was still to be advertised and started in April. She entered a buzzing groundWork and she fitted right in. Soon we celebrated her beautiful wedding as she transitioned from Miss Mbili to Mrs Mvelase. Cebo was particularly proud and protective of her family. She loved her husband and her son. They were priority number one in her life.
Cebo took to her wok like a fish to water! She accepted all NGO challenges, excelled and threw herself into her work. Her greatest challenge was getting meaningful responses from some of the stakeholders she was trying to assist. At times she would come to us frustrated by the lack of meaningful responses to what she was trying to achieve. This however did not stop her from continuing to seek ways of making sure her work gets traction and momentum.
She creatively presented great ideas for evolving her campaign beyond its structured boundaries. At times she was challenged by us in groundWork, sometimes making her cry, but she was determined and did not back down. It was through the some tears and much laughter that we helped her to grow into the strong environmental health activist that she became.
groundWork was an exciting place for her because she had the opportunity to make things happen, cause change and impact lives from the local hospital in a rural area to the meeting halls of Europe discussing global environmental health and mercury policies. Nomcebo did this with aplomb. She was a confident young person.
Nomcebo was creative she asked the right questions and ensured that she received the answers she needed. She was unstoppable!
We all have a very a tender spot for Nomcebo in our hearts at groundWork. She was always warm and willing to assist in the challenges we have both in the office and out of it. We have lost a very special member of our team but her memory will live on and we will honour it.
We feel for her family, her husband, her child and her friends who all loved her.
Health Care Without Harm is an international coalition of more than 500 organizations in 53 countries, working to transform the health care sector worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. Visit the HCWH website for more information.
