“I just went to another funeral on Saturday in eMoyeni. A lot of people are dying out there. A lot of people are dying everywhere here. Come back and let’s fight for them.”–Xoli Msimanga, Health Advocate and Friend, Amangwe Tribal Area
Hope for AIDS
Above is a picture of my friend Ncamsile's grave. She was 21 years old, HIV+, and the mother of Nomvelo (in the blue dress with silly glasses). Her sister Smangele is in the black t-shirt. This family has two generations of orphans with a family plot of nine recent graves. The entire middle generation wiped out by AIDS. Families like this are increasingly common in South Africa.The tragedy and crisis of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa is nothing new to the most of you. Many of you have been faithfully partnering with me over the past couple of years as I’ve gone in neck-deep in its epicenter, Amangwe Tribal Area, South Africa. Death’s shadow looms ever-present over the Amangwe community, and with it come ever-increasing numbers of victims to the plague – the mothers and fathers, and their orphaned children left in its wake. A Friday doesn’t go by without seeing funeral tents go up in numerous homesteads around the village. At last survey of the South African province of KwaZulu, Natal, 40% of pregnant women (the only ones to get tested in numbers) tested HIV positive.
Yet, the tremendous fighting spirit of the Zulu people isn’t letting AIDS get the best of them.
- A mother who miraculously survived death’s grasp with a non-existent immune system, and after months on AIDS treatment is now not only caring for her own children, but joyfully taking in orphaned neighbors. She also has her own garden from which she delivers fresh homegrown veggies to those in need around her. After her employer helped her access life-saving AIDS treatment, she now plays the same advocate role in the lives of numerous friends and neighbors around her.
- Community volunteers who rally their neighbors together to care to the sick and the orphans in the community by bringing them food, helping them access government resources, praying with the sick and holding their hand as they breathe their last.
- Home-based care volunteers who have taken up the cause of neighbors in need: helping a 30 year-old mother, paralyzed for life by tuberculosis in her spine, access a wheelchair and transport to the hospital for life-saving AIDS treatment as well as home physical therapy and spiritual support.
What is needed are volunteers trained to identify HIV before it is too late, to motivate people to get tested and to fight for access to life-saving treatment. This combined with spiritual support is the formula I see to prevent additional children from being orphaned by the disease. A mother or father that survives AIDS means one less family of orphans.
I am excited about this new project because it provides the opportunity to:
Be a Catalyst - The project is first of its kind for a small, rural church filled with white farmers hoping to use their resources to bring hope and healing to their black Zulu neighbors. The dynamics of a very separate South Africa (the old system of apartheid is the Afrikaans word for separateness, after all) means that approximately 90% of whites have never been to a black home, much less spent any time in a black community. After over two and a half years of working in the community, I can help to link them up to the network of volunteers.
Save Lives and Care for Orphans - During my last couple of months in South Africa, I was impressed by the huge community clout held by some of the prominent HBC volunteers. With very few resources, they are already looking out for orphans and the sick. With additional knowledge, skills and resources, they can more effectively help to correct the myths of AIDS, help with prevention efforts, care for the sick, and get sick mothers and fathers onto life-saving treatment. Also, find income-generating ways of supporting orphaned children.
Build on Momentum - This is a great chance to continue the momentum that developed amongst the Amangwe home-based care volunteers after the 10-day HBC course we organized back in November. These amazing women now have a good grasp of their role as advocates for the sick, trainers of family caregivers, HIV/AIDS and its treatment, tuberculosis and other HIV related opportunistic infections, as well as linkages to resources for orphans and vulnerable children. When I left, they were asking for training and resources to counsel and motivate the sick to get tested for HIV; stigma and denial being the paramount obstacles encountered in identifying the real cause of sickness.
Support the Local Church - Sensing God's call to "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed" (Psalm 82:3, NKJV), I will be helping the Winterton church find a way to sustainably demonstrate God's love and care to their neighbors. Additionally, I will continue my involvement in a new bilingual (English-Zulu) church plant, hopefully starting a Bible study with my Zulu neighbors who I transported to church every Sunday evening over my last two months in South Africa.
How can you partner in this work?
Donate Online: online giving is the quickest and most direct way to donate. Go to University Presbyterian Church website and click on the online giving after you create an account, make sure that you specify “Missions-Global” and “Elfers-South Africa” in the fund and sub-fund choices.
Prayer Support: If you are interested in being a regular prayer supporter, please let me know so I can add you my list for specific prayer updates. I have seen the amazing power of prayer in my life over the past two years and am so grateful for the covering God provides through your faithfulness.
Bless you,
Betsy
