I have been to a course for people who are HIV positive and whom have to start their treatment. The course is about how they have to take the medicine and what they should do and what not. Because the course was in Zulu I took my own documentation with me to try to follow what they talked about. I have learned a lot also because of the questions the patients made. After asking a friend to translate the questions made by them. I must say although it is a serious issue they laughed a lot as the counselors were friendly and made jokes. The main thing we learned is when you start your treatment you have to take it your whole life and always at the same time. Do not mix it with other traditional medicines and make sure you have support of family and friends. I now myself am a buddy for my friend.
Also at the same time I met a young lady who went to the doctors to late when she started feeling sick. She had all symptoms of being HIV positive but her mom was afraid and ashamed to bring her to the doctor so when she wanted to go on her own she did not had the strength. We got her to the hospital and after a long wait and seeing a lot of different doctors she was helped. A governmental hospital here is always busy, people have to wait for hours, 5 hours is nothing. Well it is, and especially when you are really sick, so with help of our guest Monique she got the best attention as possible. I went in to the hospital to check on them and it is not a pleasant experience. People lying on the floor for days in the waiting room. There are not enough beds so patients need to wait on chairs for days and if their lucky they get a stretcher in the hall. As they do not have enough nurses, one of the relatives has to stay with the patient. They have to bring their own blankets, towels, food etc. Because of the long waiting hours people are left alone by their relatives. Also children are left alone. I saw one boy in a wheelchair in front of the hospital on the first day I arrived. He had a confused look in his eyes. The next day we went back we found him lying on the cold floor in front of the hospital his head on a bread and crawled up as a baby. As he did not speak English and almost could not talk anymore we got a nurse to help him. He was put in a wheelchair and pushed in to the hospital. After the nurse asked him why he was their he said, I am waiting for my family...........................
For me all this is to much to see, it is a daily thing and I can not do anything about it.
Last week I had the pleasure to join the Umthombo. This organization takes care of street kids. Together with I CARE, another organization, they created a drop inn for the street children. It is a center where they can sleep “safely” use bathroom facilities and there are counselors around. Umthombo drives around with a “ambulance” trough the city of Durban. The ambulance is not a official one, they only have basic medicines but the volunteers do have medical skills. Every day they do a round, they know were the children are and the children know who they are. It has been a great experience but again a lot to think about. What kind of children are there on the streets......
Children that get treated bad at their home......................... it is somebody´s child
Children without food....................................................it is somebody`s child
Children sniffing glue....................................................it is somebody´s child
Children rapping other children........................................it is somebody´s child
Children steeling on the streets........................................it is somebody´s child
Children shot by the police............................................it is somebody´s child
Children pregnant by the age of 15......................................it is somebody´s child
Children wanting to get pregnant although they are HIV positive...it is somebody´s child
Children with skin diseases because of poor hygienic.................it is somebody´s child
Children wanted to go back home........................let´s hope it will be a child again.
http://www.umthombo.org/
http://www.icare.co.za/
Drop inn center
Lockers to safe the few belongings they have
On the ambulance
Just hang around
Talk to the volunteer
It´s not juice in those cartons it contents glue
Can she be child again?
again?
