The Northern Cape turned out to be the perfect end to our road-tripping around South Africa’s clinics. Our aim with the trips was to travel to each province over six months (a week to 10 days a month), visiting as many clinics as possible, handing out our posters and encouraging health care workers (especially those with little support in the rural areas) to use the hotline.

We spent ten days in the Northern Cape, starting with a wonderful turn-out in Kimberley, with over fifty people in two sessions – doctors, pharmacists, nurses and people from the Department of Health – thanks to Farouk Shaiknagh.

From there we travelled over 2 000 km (many of those on dust roads, with just one flat tyre to test our tenacity!), up to Kuruman and then down to Upington, across to Springbok and down to Garies, seeing fifty hospitals and clinics along the way. We found the health care workers working hard and incredibly welcoming and made many friends along the way.

Through desert landscapes and surprisingly hilly mountain passes, we saw the end of the flower season and marvelled at the beauty and friendliness of this vast and often forgotten province. Hopefully our visits will have encouraged health care workers to phone the hotline, and our posters and handouts will aid in improved patient care.

You can see where we went on our Facebook page.