EIL Intercultural Learning

I have travelled to South Africa for nine weeks as part of EIL’s Global Awareness Programme, to volunteer with people living with HIV and AIDS. The Global Awareness Programme (GAP) seeks to combat the huge stigma that is attached to HIV and AIDS. During my time here I hope to gain a broader understanding of HIV and AIDS, with the intention of raising awareness of the illness in Ireland upon my return. I have been accompanied by one other GAP participant: Lynda Piper-Roche from Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.

I have been in Cape Town for the past two weeks now and, so far, it has been an amazing and eye-opening experience. I spent my first week on orientation with ten other volunteers from across the world who are all working on various projects around Cape Town. Our first week was great fun and very informative, however, nothing could have prepared me for my first week on my project at ThembaCare.

ThembaCare is a care centre for babies and children living with HIV and AIDS. Patients are admitted from hospitals across Cape Town and are cared for at the Centre until they are strong enough either to go home to their family or to be placed in foster care. Currently most of the patients there are babies and toddlers under the age of two.

We started work last Monday week and were greeted at the Centre by smiling, loving toddlers who were all clamouring for our attention. The Centre is a bright and colourful place. There are two bedrooms that can accommodate nine patients each and a large playroom where the patients spend most of their day. Although the children are sick, there is a great atmosphere in the Centre, created by the positive and friendly staff. It is quite easy to forget that these children are living with HIV and the many side-effects that this disease brings.

We spent our first morning at a ward meeting where all the staff members and volunteers discussed the condition of each patient. It was great to get background information on all of the children and while each case was very different, each one was equally as disturbing.

Many of the children are waiting for foster homes; some because their parents have passed away, others because their parents are simply too sick to look after them. Some children have been abandoned and in some fortunate cases the children have their mothers there with them, caring for them with the assistance of ThembaCare.

One of the older children, Chkwan*, had arrived at the Centre a week before we arrived in a very malnourished condition. When we met him he was completely emaciated. His cheekbones were sunken. His big, dark brown eyes looked fearful. He moved slow and cautiously. He whispered occasionally, struggling to talk. At the ward meeting on our first morning we learned his parents had passed away from AIDS and he hadn’t ever been visited during his time in ThembaCare.

As he was the oldest child by seven years, he looked lonely and bored, so, with the help of your donations, Lynda and I were able to buy jigsaws, colouring pencils and stickers to help him occupy his time.

Lynda noticed that there were no shoes in the Centre that fit him and, thanks to the many donations, bought him a new pair of runners. It brought him such joy and he was very quick to point out when his runners weren’t firmly on his feet!

Our time is divided between playing and feeding the children, driving them to hospital appointments, collecting donations and dropping social workers out to the communities. On one occasion Lynda and I brought Chkwan with us for a drive. It was great for him to get out of the Centre for a few hours and he got to explore a vast amount of the landscapes in Cape Town thanks to our poor navigation skills!

Many children come to ThembaCare in a very malnourished condition and, through the love and care that is provided there, they come out fighting fit. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case with Chkwan and he passed away in the early hours of Thursday morning. He was only 11 years old. Lynda and I never expected to witness a young child passing away during our time here and the gravity of the HIV situation hit us both.

Lynda devoted a lot of her time to Chkwan and together with the generous donations from people at home in Roscommon we were able to provide a little comfort and enjoyment to him in his final days.

Thanks again to you all.

* The names of the children have been changed to protect their privacy.