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Katie Moore and Nogugu Mafu volunteered in a community-based organisation in the southwest of Nigeria, in Ilesa, Osun State. Set up in 1994, Living Hope Care provides support for people affected by HIV, through outreach programmes such as peer education workshops and advocacy for people living with HIV & AIDS. The organisation works to empower people living with HIV & AIDS to live positive, happy, healthy lives and to educate people in their own community about the issues.
Katie and Nogugu got involved in all of the activities carried out by Living Hope Care. They worked directly with orphans and vulnerable children, took part in support group meetings, counselled commercial sex workers and gave seminars and workshops in schools, church and community groups. They also took part in advocacy meetings, represented Living Hope Care in meetings with potential donors and were involved in writing and submitting project proposals.
For Nogugu, the most rewarding aspect of the project was working on a daily basis with people living positively with HIV & AIDS and getting inspiration from their optimism and positive outlook. Nogugu points out that through measures such as anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), peer counselling and other support mechanisms, there is a lot that people living with or affected by HIV & AIDS are doing on the ground themselves, and that “the fight against HIV & AIDS is not a lost battle”. Similarly, Katie found herself working with people who “are so positive and diverse and who have so much passion and drive for the work they do”.
Both Katie and Nogugu found their time in Nigeria challenging but very rewarding. For Katie, “the whole experience was a huge challenge, mentally, physically and emotionally. But it was by embracing the challenge and immersing myself in work and life in Nigeria that helped me to learn all I did and have an indescribable, amazing time there”.
“This was a very rewarding experience that I would absolutely love to do again” Nogugu adds. “The whole experience was quite enriching for me in many ways because even some frustrations turned out to be great learning opportunities at the end”.
James O’ Connor and Sophie Breuker lived and worked within coloured townships on the Cape Flats outside of Cape Town. They worked together in Tehillah Community Collaborative, a non-profit organisation providing services for people faced with poverty, unemployment, gender-based violence, TB and HIV & AIDS issues. The project also provided youth development and outreach programmes.
With a background in youth work and drama, Sophie very quickly found her place working with a drug rehabilitation group called ‘Spread Your Wings’. She gave workshops on life skills, did team building exercises, games and assisted the pastor in counselling sessions and discussions with the group. She says: “These guys were just amazing and made every day worthwhile”.
James, with a background in development, was also involved with the drug rehabilitation programme, assisting in pre-rehab assessments for people entering the programme. He also worked with the HIV positive support group and drafted philosophy statements, policy and educational documents for both the drug rehab group and the HIV positive group.
James also befriended ‘Matthews’, a quiet and dignified man in his early forties who was diagnosed with HIV earlier in the summer and developed a re-occurrence of TB. He found Matthews story epitomized what he described as “sadly the norm for people living with HIV or AIDS in South Africa”.
“When Matthews family saw him loosing weight and coughing consistently” he says, “they immediately threw him out of their tiny galvanised shack in the over populated township. With nowhere to go and just the clothes on his back he found Tehillah”.
There, James got Matthews linked into medical services, and put a system in place for him to get continued support and have his health and nutritional needs met after James’ return to Ireland.
Sophie describes her time in South Africa as: “an amazing experience, difficult on occasions but truly worthwhile. I got to see how the developed world lives beside the developing world oblivious to the conditions some people survive in. Every day on the way to work I would drive past miles of handmade shacks of 3 by 4 metres, put together from pieces of scrap metal and wood and this is what many people are forced to call home”.
Sophie learned how social issues, poverty, poor living conditions, lack of education, drug and alcohol abuse all contribute to the rise in HIV & AIDS. Sophie adds: “Through all this, I experienced how people kept smiling and welcomed you into their lives and homes, sharing their stories and living with dignity”.
James describes leaving South Africa as leaving a large community of great people and good friends behind, and will always remember Matthews’s last words to him: “James, I’m going to miss you!”
“South Africa, for me, has been a life altering, humbling and yet a joyous experience. It has given me a renewed appreciation of people and a renewed hope that God through the ordinary person will continue to care for and love those less fortunate than ourselves, especially people living with HIV and AIDS both in Ireland and Africa.”
