Cheerful mural for outreach clinic

The Denis Hurley Centre outreach clinic at Dalton now has a beautiful mural to provide a colourful visual oasis for patients. Designed and painted jointly by artists Giffy Duminy, Mookie Chapman and Sphephelo Mnguni with help from two Tanzanian refugees, the mural on the wall next to the clinic is a tranquil and attractive antidote to the dire poverty in the area.

“Plants are a symbol of healing – so using images of medicinal plants was our starting point,” explained artist Giffy. “As we worked on this, we all kept adding more colour to brighten it up and make it as happy and cheerful as possible. We used the architecture of the wall to its full advantage incorporating the diamond shape motif into the pattern.”

The mural complements a vegetable garden that the residents have been nurturing.

Only 2.5km from the Durban City Hall, Dalton is a shockingly dirty area where over 400 people live in and around an old beer hall. For the past three years, the Denis Hurley Centre clinic team has been visiting the area – providing desperately needed health care to those affected by poor living conditions. The team has also been advocating for the residents, acting as a ‘voice for the voiceless’.

Container World generously converted a container into a clinic, so the people could be treated in a clean, safe and private environment. We are also still hoping that the Municipality will deliver on their promise to refurbish the existing ablution block: until then there are no toilets on the site and only one water tap.

Pictured above from left to right are Busi (Clinic team), Tracy (Dalton gardener), Craig (Container World), Mookie, Sbu, Giffy (artists) and Terri (CW). (Photo: Sithembiso Shoba)