HOPE Volunteers Complete South Africa Mission

We've completed our two weeks in the West Rand District outside of Johannesburg. What a busy two weeks it has been! Aside from meeting some wonderful South Africans and a great group of Project Hope volunteers and staff, we managed to complete 77 needs assessment surveys of the informal settlement Zenzele over the course of 5 days, provide two educational days on chronic disease to 28 community health workers, and conduct a facility assessment for the Randfontein EMS station and the Beckersdale Clinic. We also managed to have some fun as well, spending our day off in a Lion & Rhino Wild Animal Reserve and seeing some cool caves in the Cradle of Humankind. We even celebrated one volunteer's birthday during the trip with lots of laughter and a home made chocolate cake.

While this portion of the South Africa volunteer trip has come to an end, the real work is only beginning. The surveys have to be analyzed, the facility assessments results need to be turned in, and the education of the community must continue. I look forward to seeing the future work of Project HOPE South Africa build from the results of this experience. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of this pilot volunteer project.


By HOPE volunteer Michelle Pena

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Project HOPE Volunteers Train the Trainers in South Africa

Training days at the West Rand District Offices in Randfontein

We spent the weekend preparing our chronic disease trainings for the Community Health Care Workers of West Rand. We were “training the trainers”, meaning that the 30 participants would then supervise and instruct community volunteers on the topics of chronic disease. The reach was great, as it is government health volunteers that go door to door teaching their community members about disease prevention and recognition.

What a success! The audience was eager and enthusiastic. Having little to no knowledge about obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mental health, our training participants engaged us with thoughtful questions and grateful praise. We worked hard to communicate our information at a literacy level our audience could understand and relate, so group activities, role playing, and visual aids were an integral part of our education tactics. Our efforts paid off- at the end of the training we were thanked with smiles, warm embraces, and song.

-by Project HOPE volunteer Torrey Flynn

Meet the Project HOPE Volunteers in South Africa

From October 10-26, four Project HOPE volunteers are participating in a pilot volunteer program focusing on chronic disease assessment in two urban slums in the vicinity of Johannesburg.


Dr. Brian Crawford, an emergency room doctor from Colorado Springs, Colorado has more than 12 years of experience. This is his third time volunteering for Project HOPE, previously serving in Indonesia immediately following the Tsunami in 2005 and earlier this year he joined HOPE volunteers in Ghana. He is working as and ER physician in South Africa.




Eric Dinally, from Brooklyn, New York, is a first-time volunteer for Project HOPE. Eric is currently employed at New York Presbyterian Hospital and is an active volunteer in his community. He is also working on his masters in nursing. He will be working as an RN in South Africa.






Torrey Flynn, a first-time Project HOPE volunteer, is a recent master of nursing and pediatric nurse practitioner program graduate from University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center. Torrey is working as a nurse practitioner in South Africa. She currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa.




Michelle Pena from San Francisco, has participated in two volunteer missions for Project HOPE, first serving in Latin America onboard the USNS Comfort in 2007 and again returning to Latin America onboard the USS Kearsarge in 2008. She is currently working on her Master in Public Health, Epidemiology and Master of Arts, Latin American Studies at San Diego State University. In South Africa, Michelle is working as a nurse educator.