Volunteer caregivers who help take care of people living with AIDS and children orphaned by AIDS. They visit their "clients" 2-4 times a month and help with cooking, cleaning, take care of medical needs and provide hope.A reporter from The Sun in the U.K. asked to see our malaria work since he was in Zambia to do a story on Christian Aid (a UK-based NGO). The reporter, Oliver Harvey, described The Sun as a "voracious tabloid" - it's apparently a step above the National Inquirer, but not so gossipy and slick as People magazine! He was doing a report to support Malaria No More so wanted a project that had benefited from mosquito nets.
Part of my job with RAPIDS will be to take reporters like this to see our work. For me, it was great to be in the field to meet the caregivers who are carrying out the work - and to better understand some of the issues the community faces.
One of the caregivers, Nurse Nakalonga (her name is Nurse, but I don't think she's a nurse), age 55, said this about being a caregiver:
"We know that at some point we will die and we feel humbled. We've seen relatives who have died from HIV/AIDS. We thank God because he has spoken to us and now we're working for our community as volunteers; we feel encouraged. We're not used to staying home because we like doing the work."
I also met a grandmother, Regina Moomba (who is 79 years old, which is a phenomenon in a country where the life expectancy is 37 years). She is caring for 10 grandchildren (the oldest is 34 and the youngest is 10). Her daughter and son in law both died of AIDS and her oldest grand daughter (at 34) along with her child are both HIV positive.
They have 14 people living in their compound, but only 3 mosquito nets... thankfully, they know to put the most vulnerable people: those with HIV/AIDS under the nets. Members of the community said that they noticed a sharp decline in cases of malaria once they put up their mosquito nets - but you can see that more are needed...
Here's a link to more photos from my trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/miyonkautz/ChikankataVisit
2 comments:
I loved the photo which asked the caregivers how many people they are serving, and they held up that many fingers.
We must thank God for volunteers who are willing to put feet into action to care for one another!!
I have to agree that my favorite (and most heartbreaking) and most heartbreaking photo was the one of the caregivers holding up the number of families they take care of. You are in our prayers!
P.S. Can I use it in a post on my blog?
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