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This afternoon we visited St. Lucia, the first HIV/AIDS hospice opened in Tanzania. Originally it was founded as a family hospice center, but it operates more as an orphanage these days as there are only 2 adult women still alive, and just over 19 children. Much of the work done by St. Lucia is done through home visits into local communities. The organization is committed to people returning to their home villages and not living in at St. Lucia until their deaths. Only in the case of the orphans can they stay at St. Lucia long term. Many of the patient who come to St. Lucia have been ostracized by their villages and families because they do not fully understand HIV/AIDS. Until recently there has not even been a recognition that HIV/AIDS exists in this country. It was only last year in Uganda that an important member of government died and instead of disguising his death as malaria or typhoid, which is typical, they said he dies of AIDS. That decision has caused considerable commotion throughout Eastern Africa. The region where I currently live has the highest HIV/AIDS population in Eastern Africa. It is a problem which many inside the
government and in local communities are working to control, but it is incredibly challenging. The real problem here is not HIV/AIDS so much as it is poverty. All of the problems here extend from extreme poverty.
We learned about the variety of ‘typical’ ways the disease is transmitted, so many of which could be preventable with education. Currently the United States government provides very limited funding for Tanzania because they do not enforce abstinence only education, but rather try to teach sex-education very broadly. For the first time primary and secondary schools in this country are beginning to teach about HIV/AIDS and sex-education, even though it is still not discussed at all within between parents and children. Even with the strides made over the last couple of years HIV/AIDS is still seen as a women’s disease, as the men in this country refuse to be tested. A woman is tested in the hospital when she gives birth and if found positive the husband leaves to find a new wife, abandoning the family and continuing the spread of the disease. It is estimated that nearly 9% of the population of Tanzania is HIV/AIDS positive. And this is only the recorded number.
Having spent a week living here and wandering through small villages I can only imagine how many cases are unrecorded due to lack of resources to get tested or denial of the existence of the disease all together.
The children we met at St. Lucia had absolutely heart wrenching stories and it was an incredibly difficult day. We spent some time in the nursery room, which was by far the most difficult. Try to imagine a room full of children, most of whom were simply left at the front gate, who have no chance of recovery. Many of them were nearly 5 years old but were only the size of a 6 moth old baby. We then met some of the older children who came to St. Lucia a couple years ago with their entire families, but they are now the only surviving members. Of all the children living at St. Lucia roughly half of the children are sponsored, meaning someone (from the US) is paying for them to attend school, but the others just sit in their rooms during the day waiting for their friends to return. Many attended school before there were orphaned, but now education is no longer a possibility. While none of this was easy to comprehend, nor I am sure is it easy to read, I want you to know there was laughter. Incredible, wonderful, joyful laughter. Because of St. Lucia some children will have positive years before becoming very ill and as the volunteers at the center say, they are making their own reality.
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Mom
non-member comment
Wow
Amazing - and thank you for sharing. We think we can imagine, but really it is too difficult about. You are brave and I am proud.