Embracing HIV sufferers in South Africa

|PIC1|It has been 15 years since the end of apartheid in South Africa but, despite emerging as a relatively wealthy democratic nation and long-awaited host of next year’s glittering football World Cup, the legacy of discrimination lives on.

While South Africa’s new constitution offers some opportunity for the redistribution of power and assets, economic and social inequality permeate all aspects of life, including life-saving access to HIV testing, medication, and cohesive support structures for those living with the condition.

In fact, South Africa now has the highest rate of HIV on the planet, with a staggering 5.5 million HIV positive people who account for one fifth of all cases globally.

According to the latest figures from UNICEF and UNAIDS, there are also an estimated 2.5 million children orphaned by HIV-related illnesses, many of whom are cared for by already struggling elderly grandparents and teenage siblings.

As in many countries around the world, stigma is rife and taboos abound, so although HIV accounts for about half the deaths in the country, more than 90% of the population tragically remain untested.

You are not alone

In the beautiful city of Cape Town and the nearby impoverished townships of Khayelitsha, Philippe, Gugulethu and Mfuleni, Christian Aid’s long-term partner Wola Nani (www.wolanani.co.za) works around the clock to support HIV positive women and their children.

Roughly translated as ‘we embrace and develop one another’, Wola Nani tirelessly works to raise awareness about HIV as well as providing vital child health monitoring and home-based care for seriously ill people.

Martha, a community worker and counsellor with Wola Nani, explains how lay counselling can help.

“When people first come to Wola Nani, it is very hard for them - they have just been diagnosed and think they are going to die in the next month, they want to cry,” she says. “So I let them cry for a few minutes and then I tell them ‘you are not alone, we are here, you are not the only one with HIV. If you look after yourself, you can live for up to 20 years'.

“We tell them the best thing to do is come to a support group and be with others. There are a lot of ladies like you. It begins to give them hope,” she adds.

Ntombi, another lay counsellor at Wola Nani, was diagnosed HIV positive in 2004 when she was pregnant with her third child, now three-years-old and, thankfully, HIV negative.

“At work I look after orphans whose mothers have passed away from HIV related illnesses and who may be HIV positive themselves,” she says.

“When the children come we welcome them, we talk to them about HIV and then go to play outside.

“Wola Nani has changed everything for me. Now I’m proud and confident in having HIV. I can talk about it and I counsel others – life is better, much better.”

The beautiful game

As one of a number of young men being coached to become mentors to younger children, 16-year-old football-fanatic Sibusiso Dlomo, says he’d rather spend his free time at Wola Nani’s kids clubs than out on the streets with his peers.

|PIC1|“Most people get in trouble because they’ve got nothing to do and are bored, but football can help teach people not to rob people, not to take drugs, not to do house break-ins,” he explains.

“Every day you can go to the field and practice and then on Saturdays go and play a match. Clubs like this are good because they keep you learning new stuff all the time. They give you an alternative.”

At Wola Nani’s children’s clubs and wilderness camps, serious discussions about life-saving Antiretroviral (ARV) medication and key social issues affecting the children’s lives are interspersed with having fun and playing games in a safe environment.

“We learn new games every day and the kids talk about their problems. For example, many kids don’t have enough to eat at home – they can sleep for maybe two nights without eating and maybe on the third day they’ll have food. Wola Nani found this out and now they give them food parcels.”

With his newfound confidence and focus, Sibusiso now believes that he can look to the future with a positive attitude.

“When I finish school I wanted to be a soccer player,” he grins.

“But my second option is to continue with my studies. I want to study law because I don’t like to see people robbing and committing crime.”

Did you know? Some shocking facts and statistics

• The number of people surviving on less than $2 a day in South Africa is equal to the entire population of neighbouring country Mozambique.

• According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organisation WHO), 33.4 million people are now living with HIV worldwide.

• A further 2.7 million people were newly infected in 2008, and two million died of HIV-related illnesses in the same year.

The good news

• UNAIDS and WHO estimate that since the availability of effective treatment in 1996, some 2.9 million lives have been saved.

• Around 200 000 new infections among children have been prevented since 2001 due to ARV therapy.

• In Botswana, where treatment coverage is 80%, AIDS-related deaths have fallen by over 50% over the past five years.



This World AIDS Day Christian Aid is supporting the Push for the Pool, a campaign to help more people in poor countries to get the life-saving medicines they need. To find out more, and lend your support, go here: www.christianaid.org.uk/worldaidsday

For prayer material click here www.christianaid.org.uk/resources/churches/in-church/world-aids-day-2009.aspx