MMM- SOUP!

It’s amazing how life here has become “normal” for me and I am finding it harder and harder to find subjects to blog about. So here I will just give a couple snap shots that will explain what I’ve been up to.

Note the baby on her back!

I am so amazed at how the women can carry these large loads of fire wood on their heads for extended periods of time. I told my counsellors that I wanted to try carrying wood on my head before I left and asked if they would go with me, all three girls immediately said, “no”. Haha, so simple. “No Les, that’s hard work, we don’t do it.”

Here, one of the ladies that was carrying fire wood when we passed asked us what we were doing and invited us into her home to test her.

After leaving a home we went out onto the street for ‘lunch’. My team was having sandwiches made of cheezies and white bread while I was snacking on trail mix. The man whose house we had left called us in saying he couldn’t let us just eat bread for lunch and invited us in for soup. It was so nice to go in and visit. The soup smelt really good and I was really looking forward to it. Naively I was thinking something like ‘beef vegetable’.... nope it was oxtail and fat. When I received my cup of soup I thought hmm, maybe those floating white chunks are dumplings.... nope. Turns out you can go to the butcher and simply buy fat. The broth was tasty.... I actually couldn’t really decide whether I liked it or not... but I nicely let my counsellors eat the fat for me. 

This photo is cute, shows how we definitely include the whole family in the counselling and testing process. The children are always so curious.

Although I don’t have a photo for this (thank God) my least favourite quote recently has been a very simple statement from one of my favourite counsellors here, “Leslee, you’re getting a big bum.” She then went on to say that I look really nice – I’m turning into a true South African. As my heart was sinking I managed to say a, “um, thanks?”

  

Little things that make you say, “Hmmm.”

I was walking to work one morning and it was a really beautiful day. I had let my guard down a little and was day dreaming when I noticed a man come out of the bushes on a small path across from me, another man came out of a driveway just in front of me. Neither looked overly menacing - but I took note. My route to work is neither ‘safe’ nor extremely ‘unsafe’ but I am in South Africa and therefore need to be aware of what’s going on. The two walked behind me down the road a ways. I noticed a flower that I have been admiring lately. This particular flower comes out for one day – and one day only and then shrivels up... then a couple weeks later, out they come again one or two at a time. I stopped to admire them, and turned to the men who were watching me and said, “the flowers are very nice,” and kept moving. They were quiet for a moment, then I heard them chatting... one said something and the other responded with “something something flower - nice.” I’m pretty sure the one asked what I had said and the other translated for me. For some reason they didn’t follow me anymore....

I was testing at a very full home with a lot of extended family. When we were leaving I was outside with the children and one woman came up and asked if I had any old clothes that I didn’t need.... She didn’t ask for money, didn’t ask for new clothing, but asked for my old clothes...

 I walk into a home and a man says to me, “I like you – because you are here.”

A grandma (who is the sole provider for two grandchildren) was telling me about how she went to the social worker to ask for a food hamper because her hands are so crippled with arthritis that she can’t work. The social worker told her, “I’m sorry, the list for food hampers is full.”... So what happens to those who don’t make the list?



You know you're in Africa when....



I walk half an hour to work each morning to meet my team and then we set out on foot –usually about another twenty minutes or so. Going door to door we occasionally wander quite far from our starting point. Undoubtedly someone will ask me where my car is. When I shrug and say, “no moto,” the children look really confused and the adults usually look at me with a worried expression and tell the counsellors, “wow, this white girl must be really hard up if she doesn’t have a car!” People think I am absolutely insane to be walking everywhere. I think it actually helps for me to relate to those I’m here to help though. If I were to show up in a car to help, I would just be another white lady in a car. But, I show up with my counsellors with dusty shoes, heavy bags, and sweating and people here can relate to that....

Just like to send a very special shout out to all my co-workers at Mills Memorial - I miss you!

SA CHILDREN

Here is a little Photo album of a few of the children who have touched my heart so far:



 

This young girl's mom left her with her grandmother as a baby. Her grandmother recently heard that the granddaughters' mom was 'sick' and no one knew why.... so I tested this little darling today. She was so brave squeezing her little 'balloon' while she recited the calendar months that she is learning in pre-school with Zola the counsellor I was with.

This little girl was so sweet. The whole time I was at her house she was very skeptical of me and even more so of the balloon I made her out of my glove.




"Hmmm, this white lady and her balloon are pretty scary.."

 



" Yup, shes' still over there....."

 



" Bye-Bye! White lady! "



After we gave her a little time to adjust she sat out in her yard and waved and chatted as we went in and out of her neighbours homes.

From a distance one might think, "those children are playing in garbage - how sad!"

  When you look again though, you might see another picture:

When you look closer you might see that they have made a little 'play fort'. They have flowers in the baileys bottle, drinks on the counter, a radio connected to a water bottle as a form of science project, and the one girl is cleaning up shop.

Carrying water home.

These little guys had me leaving them feeling so lost. Both of their parents are HIV positive and struggling to make ends meet, finding food is a daily struggle and getting to the clinic for their medication is often not a priority which means both parents are often sick. These little guys are so precious and have very hard lives for being so small. 

This little man is just simply super cute!

This little girl sat and looked at me with those big eyes the entire time I tested her sister!

Peanutbutter and Jam

This past week I met a mother and her child that touched my heart in a very profound way. Walking into her home I noticed that it was one of the sparsest homes I have been in, one table, one cupboard, one stool, a couple dishes... that’s all in the kitchen/dining room/living room. She told us about how her boyfriend works odd jobs that he can find and that his wage is their only income. She wants to apply for a child grant that would give them R220 ($31) a month, but because she doesn’t have an ID of her own she cannot get a birth certificate for her child. Without a birth certificate she cannot get a child grant. To make matters more confusing she can’t get an ID because her and her mother are estranged and her mom won’t sign an affidavit stating that she is her child. For her to get into town to ask what her new options are to get an ID she will have to take a taxi, which she doesn’t have money for, or walk for about an hour and a half, without having eaten breakfast and coming home possibly without eating dinner. It seems as though things are working against her and that no one has been able to help. While Phumeza was translating for me, Phumeza was looking at me, and I looked up at the client and tears were streaming down her face. We asked why she was crying and she said that since they had very little money she didn’t have food to take her medications that she needed daily.... One more hurdle to cross. I was sitting there wondering what we could do to help and we made a plan to speak with social workers and to go to the home office and speak on her behalf on how to get an ID. I couldn’t leave the house knowing that they didn’t have food, so I left my lunch, nothing exciting: a peanut butter and jam sandwich and a plum. When I turned around to say good –bye she had already eaten half the sandwich and had the biggest smile on her face... my heart almost snapped in two...

Our next house was a lovely distraction from our regular work. As we were heading up to the next house a little girl was coming down the path. When she saw me she started crying - a common reaction unfortunately. Kids continue to cry when I’m around as they aren’t used to having a white lady at their home. She ran home and by the time we arrived she was down for a nap. Her house is a mud home currently being built by her mom and grandpa. We sat with them and I questioned them about how they build their mud homes, how long it takes, what kind of mud they use, how they pick the sticks from the bush, etc. The grandpa was keen to fill me in and even spoke English which was great. They told me about how they were going to make the house so that snakes couldn’t get in... um, pardon? Snakes? I have had myself nicely convinced that I wouldn’t encounter another snake while here but it turns out that all these homes that I have been in all day have snakes living behind there cardboard wall paper and hiding in between their metal sheeted walls. I really could have gone this whole year without learning that info. They thought that it was hilarious that I became squeamish and wanted to keep moving, but all I could think of was a snake weaving its way out of the wall behind me (shivers). They also told me stories of how mom’s have come into the house after fetching water only to find a snake curled up with their baby on the floor. The mom then has to wait for the snake to leave on its own accord for if they try to chase it away it will bite the child. Can you imagine sitting and watching as a snake had a nap with your baby?! 

I'VE FOUND THE OCEAN

Hello beach! I have moved to a new town named Port Alfred. It is a gorgeous coastal holiday destination and I have been lucky enough to be posted here!

One of the most interesting parts of Port Alfred for I have found is the blatant economic disparity. In the middle of the town are multimillion dollar ocean front homes with beautiful boats and Land Rovers securely tucked behind guards and an electric fence. Ten minutes outside of the town center you arrive in the area where I work -there are no boats, very few cars and only barbed wire fences.

    In my first week working in this location I was welcomed with a high rate of HIV – telling me that we are definitely needed. Although people have heard of HIV and know that they should get tested few do because they are afraid of the stigma that chases people who are diagnosed positive. It doesn’t take long for someone to leave the clinic after picking up a prescription known to be HIV meds for most people in the neighbourhood to know that they are positive. With the high rate of HIV I have often wondered what people still have to talk about, almost every fifth house has someone who is HIV positive, so why is there still need to gossip? Although we educate everyone that it is very important to be diagnosed early many state that they would rather not know.... ignorance is bliss? Not when it comes to your HIV status.

Last week while the counsellor was chatting with a woman I was secretly assessing her 11 month old daughter. Her daughter had this deep purple blistery rash across her arms and legs that I didn’t like the look of. When I got her a little closer I noticed she had a round firm little belly.... I asked her mom what the rash was and she said that she was told it was an allergy to milk. I asked if she was eating well and mom said yes, but why was her belly so distended? Something wasn’t right here... The mom was telling us about how her brother that she lives with is HIV positive and has defaulted from his medication. We were counselling her on the importance of taking ARV’s everyday when her test results came back positive. Once I saw that the mom was positive I just knew that her daughter was going to be too... and she was. An eleven month old baby being positive for HIV is a hard reality for me to understand. I can’t imagine what the mother was feeling. We did our best to encourage her that she and her baby can have a healthy life. Sometimes I leave a house feeling totally helpless, and this case was one of them. The counsellor I was working with is really good, and is able to speak to people in a manner that really gets through to people. I know that the mom understood everything we said, but still, we left that house having told her that her baby has a Virus that everyone in South Africa is afraid of.

Mothers are encouraged as much as humanly possible to get tested during their pregnancy but some refuse. Everyone has their own reasons; some are simply just too scared of the, ‘what if’. The mother of the 11 month old girl had been tested during her pregnancy. She may have been in the window period when she was tested, or she may not have contracted it yet. Unfortunately she wasn’t tested prior to delivery or she could have been given medication to help prevent her child from contracting the virus. A colleague of mine tested a woman who is nine months pregnant last week and she turned out to be positive. She hadn’t tested previously and was due any day. Hopefully she will have an HIV free baby! I followed up with her a couple days after testing and she had already been to the hospital and has started treatment – things are looking good. She has a c-section booked for the end of the month and I already made a date to go back and hold the baby.

On a side note I need to tell you all about the mail system here... Out of the +20 postcards and letters that I have sent out to you only two have made it to their destination. Please know that I’m thinking of all of you, and that I’ve tried to send out a little South African love... it just doesn’t want to leave Africa.... On the other hand two deliveries sent from Canada haven’t made it to me either... A kind man turned in my rejected envelope that he found on the roadside, unfortunately the contents were nowhere to be found, it seems that a man working for the post office here enjoyed my parcel....

Welcome to my Office

My rural office

One of the best things about my job is that I work in some pretty interesting areas. If we are walking along the road and meet someone we introduce ourselves and ask if they would like to test. If they say, “yes,” and the only thing around to perch on is a rock – that’s where I set up shop! You will often find us on the road under an umbrella testing those who pass by, or testing out of the box of the truck trying to reach men and women walking to work. I have tried to put together a couple photos of my ever changing “office”.



My team on our way to a village: Lindiswa, Nomakhaya, and Babalwa

 

Babalwa and I were trying to get into the gate that the goats on the right decided to block.

This day was particularly unbearably hot and we sought shelter to test this man in the corn rows for some shade. 

Here I was able to find a “quiet” area to test at the taxi rank. At one point I turned around and had a line-up of six people to get tested and people arguing over who had to go first so that they wouldn’t miss their taxi. In this picture I had a line-up of two people, the lady in yellow and the other wearing purple. The shopping cart belongs to the man I’m testing – his job is to deliver groceries for the vendors on the roadside.  

 This is a view of the taxi rank behind where I am working in the previous picture. I am standing at the barrel talking to the man in the orange vest and one of the counsellors I was working with, in blue, is talking to the woman with the yellow hat.

I love working in the Taxi rank because it is so dynamic! People often work Mon-Sat so there is no time for them to get to the clinic to test – which is where we come in. We try and find them, coming/going to work, or if allowed, we test them while working. Testing this guy while working meant that I was testing him behind the fruit and vegetable stand that he works at while work carried on around us. 

The people working at the vegetable stand yell out, "tester, tester" when they see me around and gather people for me to test. If you say that you're a 'tester' everyone knows exactly what you're talking about - HIV.

This was my second time testing this man at the vegetable stand. We don't understand eachother very well, but we get along great.

My day started off a little out  of sorts because I was late leaving for Port Alfred. I normally leave at 0600 and on this day I couldn't leave until 0945. We try and get there early because people tend enjoy their weekends and can begin drinking as early as 0800 in the morning. We didn’t get to Port Alfred until 1200. I was a little frustrated at the time we arrived because of the people we may have missed out on testing in the morning, but I kept telling myself that testing some were better than none. I met up with the counsellors that I work with in Bathurst, and we set out.

The first house that we went into had twin sisters who are 19 years old. Neither of the girls appeared very receptive to what we were saying, laughing when we asked about safe sex and condom use, then admitting that they are worried about HIV but won't use condoms. I become discouraged at times because sex, pregnancy, STI’s and HIV are really important and when young adults act so flippantly about it I become frustrated. South Africa has a staggering HIV rate, and if the young adults continue to treat it as a ‘non issue’ the problem will continue. So I was doing my best to remain neutral with their lack of interest when their test results showed that they were both positive. Twin sisters, 19 years old, both positive. To make matters even more confusing neither one of them said that they would tell their boyfriends, neither of them really showed any importance in the fact that they were positive and both refusing to start using condoms... what do you do in this situation? We are there to test and educate. I can’t drag people to the clinic for treatment, force them to use condoms or tell their partners their status... Okuhle and I walked out feeling pretty confused and a little baffled. 

The end of the day, everyone tired from going door to door.

Next house was a young 27 year old man. He was really receptive, asked a lot of questions, and listened to everything we had to say.... he is positive. He tests positive! Uh! I felt really bad for him because he told us of how he and his girlfriend were fighting and he thought they were broken up for good and he couldn’t talk to her about it. I walked out of the house feeling super confused... my first two houses and everyone had been positive... what kind of day were we going to have?!

Okay, well we’ll just go find his girlfriend's house and see if she wants to get tested. We walked up the street a ways and found this tiny little lady cooking food.  I couldn’t believe that this was his girlfriend for she was 17 – the only thing I was thinking was, “what is a 27 year old man doing with a 17 year old girl?” My brain couldn’t process how young and small she was, she had the smallest little fingers that I didn’t even want to pierce with the lancet. Siviwe and I were terrified that she was going to be positive and every second word out of our mouth was about safe sex, abstinence and condom use. When we completed her test I was praying so hard that she would be negative. I was even holding my breath when I checked her results – she was negative! Thank GOD! We couldn’t tell her that her boyfriend was positive but once again we educated her in the most convincing way that we could that condoms were a really good way to prevent HIV.  Siviwe and I left that house feeling like we were floating – we were so so relieved that she was negative!



This man's ID said that he was 100 years old... and I was testing him for HIV!

We then went into this man's house and tested him, a 100 year old man, for HIV. The main reason I wanted to test him was to talk to him and hear his stories -mainly to hear how he has managed to stay so healthy for so long! He was so spry! I also like to ask the elders to talk to their children and grandchildren to practice safe sex and stop the spread of HIV. The elders are really respected for their knowledge.

The last house of the day was a middle aged man who was really interested, and incredibly knowledgeable on the topic of HIV. When I asked if he and his wife used condoms he said, “yes, because my wife has HIV.” Oh!  We talked about his risk and about the possibility that he was positive. After his wife told him that she was positive they had begun using condoms, and that was five monthes ago. He told me that he was fully expecting to be positive and after five months of preparing himself, he was ready to be tested. Once again I was praying! I didn’t know what I was praying for because how could I pray for him to be negative when the chances of him being negative were so slim? So, I thought, I guess I just pray that he takes the news that he’s positive well... Seemed like a pretty week prayer in that moment... We sat and waited for ten minutes for the results, once again holding my breath because I was hoping he was negative but at the same time telling myself that there was ‘no way’ that he could be when his wife who he was having unprotected sex with was positive. The tests were finished and he was negative! He didn’t believe me. I didn’t even believe it myself. He was negative! I almost started crying, and he just sat there staring at me and at the test results. We sat there checking and re-checking the results in complete disbelief. He was ecstatic because he went into the test ‘knowing’ that he was positive, and here I was telling him he was negative. I will test him again in a couple weeks to confirm the results – but so far so good!


I try and get photos of cows for my nephew - he loves them..... I'm scared of them!