Activities in the past few days:
Thursday: Helped Christa Set up a computer that someone donated to her.
Taught her how to enter names, addresses, phone numbers and birth weights into excel.
Had a religious discussion, where I listened about how the bible is the way. But there was more to it than that. I think, although it was not said, that there is this underlying theme in human existence that we must help one another out, regardless of our circumstances (age, sex, religion, race,class…etc…)

Friday: Attended a meeting on PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission).
It raised a lot of interesting points and questions surrounding PMTCT and HIV/AIDS in general. We watched a video about a woman in South Africa, Patience, who found out that she was HIV positive after she went into the clinic for her ante-natal care and they tested her there. This is a reality for a lot of young women here in Southern Africa. Many don’t go to the clinic to get tested until they find out they are pregnant. Imagine the feelings that arise. First the fact that the woman is pregnant is a load in itself to take on, but to find out that one is positive is something that could crush one down to the ground. And then the emotions that follow about weather or not the baby will become positive too. The sad reality of the situation is that if one has money and the means, it is quite possible to deliver a negative baby by taking all the PMTCT precautions: taking nevorpin, having a c-section, formula feeding and so forth. But this is not an option for most of the women living positive and pregnant. The only thing that is on their side is the probability and chance that through all of it that their baby will come out negative. Many don’t have the means to have a c-section, let alone afford to feed the baby formula (hence Christa’s program). Along with this is many are lacking the proper education about all of this as well as access to nevorpin. Only until recently has this been available.
Here is what happens if a woman, who is positive, is pregnant:
She is giving Navorpin during her pregnancy, before but no later than 30 weeks into the pregnancy.
In order to have the best chances possible the mother would want to have a c-section, but if that is not available (which is the case most of the time if you are poor) then she is given another dose of navorpin during the birth to reduce the chances of transmission.
Once the baby is born, it is also given a dose of navorpin to improve the chances of it to be tested negative.
Now this is where the controversy comes in. The government of Namibia has adopted a policy that advocates breastfeeding. In the discussion at this meeting, issues were raised on exclusive feeding. If the baby is exclusively formula fed after birth and is tested after 6 weeks, that test is 100% conclusive. If the baby is breast fed, they are tested at 6 weeks and it is not completely accurate, so then the baby is tested again after the mother stops breastfeeding (if tested negative) after 6 weeks and switches to formula and in the 4th month is tested again- at this time the test is 100% conclusive. The problem is that the mother, after six weeks of breastfeeding, has to switch to formula and this presents many issues. One of which is affordability of such formula as well as clean water to mix it with. So what happens is that the mother then resorts back to breastfeeding, and the chances of transmission become higher. Along with this is the cultural expectation of mothers to breastfeed and the stigma associated with formula feeding. If one is to formula feed, then questions arise as to why this is happening and rumors arise about their status. SO is one supposed to protect their reputation or their baby’s health?
Stigma is a huge issue here and many people will go to any lengths not to disclose their status, but there are a lot of movements here that are advocating “know your status” and trying to get more people to accept reality and get tested before it is too late, or rather, in order to promote awareness and education.
The meeting itself left me with more questions than it did answers, but nonetheless I learned and got to see the reality of PMTCT. I often wonder what the chances of transmission are between rich and poor people: will the rich, because they have the means to afford the medicine, excellent hospital care and formula, have a lesser chance of transmission, then say a person that goes to the state hospital, can’t afford a c-section or formula? One would think that a parent would do everything in their power to prevent their child to become sick, but what happens when they don’t even have the means to prevent such transmission? Perpetuation…..
One good thing that I got out of this meetings was that fact about the counseling and support groups out their for HIV positive mothers who are expecting. I don’t know what is on the ground here in Namibia, but listening to some people that attended, one of whom was a counselor, it is important to have these resources so that the mothers are supported and feel that they have a venue to discuss their fears and questions that they may have, so that they will remember that they are not alone. Some issues that were raised though were: the involvement of fathers- a lot of emphasis is placed on the mother but what about the father? (some groups are advocating for PMTCT to be changed to Prevention of parent to child transmission) Father’s too have a lot of fears and questions and it is important to involve them in the process. That of course is assuming if they are even around, that there are supportive fathers out there willing to take part in the process. In Namibian reality, I for one, have had a hard time seeing the involvement of fathers- I hope that I can be proved wrong with more time here.
So that was my Friday. I was overwhelmed with all the new information I had heard so I went home while Annie took three little guys (Martha’s sons) ages 9-14 into the city for their first time. I had the pleasure to be with them for a little bit while we bought them ice cream and they walked wide eyed looking at the bustling crowd, walking through the mall and streets. She took them to the park as well as out to dinner at a restaurant where she told the waiter that it was one of their birthdays. I wish I would have stayed to see their faces when they brought out the sparkling dessert!
Today, we went to FHS for Saturday activities. It was such a joy to be with all of those children. I got a bunch of video of them playing games in the yard, dancing traditionally, and just being kids. They were so interested in the cameras I had and they would laugh and smile when I would show them the pictures I had taken of them on my digital camera. They ran out of food during lunch, even after we had bought a bunch of apples for them, so a couple of girls and I walked up to a store about four blocks away and I bought 8 loaves of bread and some drinks for us for the walk back home. Kids were playing soccer on the path which was filled with jagged rocks and tiny pieces of glass because littering is a part of everyday life here. There is no trash pick up let alone recycling (you have to pay). To top this off they were all playing barefoot. This is everyday life for these kids. No shoes and even if they have shoes some choose to take them off to play soccer with a ball that is made out of balled up plastic bags, or one that has a hole and no air in it.
I got sun burned again from this 10 minute walk. When we had arrived back at the center all the kids were inside waiting. So as they left the center we gave each of them 2 pieces of bread and a few sweets. Norma, 19 came to the center for a meal. She told me she had cancer while she proceeded to take off her hat and show me the scars on her head. I could see that she also had suffered a stroke that left the right side of her body limp. She said that she had to learn how to write again with her left hand and now she just sits at home and waits out the days. She stuck around after most of the kids left and we had some bread left over so I gave her four more pieces. I can’t even imagine….
On the way home Foibe took us to the local market where we bought some veggies and fruit, along with some lunch: traditions ovambo bread, fried fish (none for me), and some pieces of sausage that they cooked right there. On our walk out we were saw some more meat being cooked (people will just be cooking it on the side of the street) and we came across this home where a Damara woman runs a makeshift business from. Hanging up on clothes lines next to a pink child’s shirt were chunks of meat and she signaled me to come into her house so that she could show me something. She proceeded to open up this freezer where I saw the rest of the cow. It smelled funky and later she told us that the power went out the day before. This woman was running an all out business out of her home. Fridges full of beer, meet for cooking and selling, economy size bags of candy, tango cards (prepaid phone recharges), soap, flour, rice, bread etc… This is how many people try to make an informal living here, by turning their homes into businesses or shebeens (bars).
This week we are going to the homes of the kids that Abigail has identified that we will help. Basically we will be profiling them so that people, or future donors, will have a chance to gain a glimpse into their home lives. As I was looking on the list, on the right side was a column that noted if the parents were alive or not. Taking a quick glance, there was at least one parent dead for each child, if not both. This is the reality of many children in the settlements here in Windhoek and even throughout Namibia. They are living with sisters, grandmas, aunties, who ever will take them…. which in most cases are women and the kuku’s (grandmas) who are the only ones still alive.