Another highlight of my week was having the opportunity to meet Nombeko, my host mom's daughter. In 1997 she was gang raped and now has HIV. Because of the fact that she is HIV positive, she wrote a book about her story (which I got to read) and is now active in the church community with the support group for others with HIV/AIDS. Through her I learned that some people in the townships try to get HIV or to get pregnant so that they can get some grant money from the government. For some people it is even devastating to learn that they are HIV negative. It is their thought that because they are unlikely to get a job, if they are able to get money from the grant they will still have an income of some sort to feed their family. Unfortunately, many people who do this also don't know the rules so many of them are unable to get money from the grant even if they are able to become pregnant or contract HIV. When people come to this, when they try to contract terminal illnesses just to put food on their tables, it is a truly sad day. I am still astounded as to how people can let this happen and how they could even start to right it.
Day 3:
On our third day in Gugulethu we went on a variety of visits. We had the opportunity to visit the John Parma School which teaches kids in grades R (preschool/kindergarten) to grade 7. The kids all got so excited to see us because we are ‘exotic’ to them. Each class had about 35 to 40 kids so the class size is on the large side. The kids also seem to be rather well behaved, though that may have just been because we were walking around with their principal.
Next we went to Pricilla’s Home Care. It is a daycare in the home of a woman, Pricilla, who also has decided to be the foster mother to orphans. She typically has between 9 and 14 kids at a time. In a time when so many kids are orphaned because of HIV/AIDS she is providing the community with what she can give. She has given homes to kids who have no parents and she has started a daycare/preschool which not only provides daycare for working parents but also provides jobs for the community. I have realized how much of a leader Pricilla is in her community because of what she has done. She saw a need and did what she could to fill it, she even found a way to fill three holes with one project.
We also got to meet Lydia and her son who live in a shack and who are both HIV positive. Lydia told us a bit about her story like how her mother has TB and both she and her son have other medical issues and how she has many challenges in life because it is hard to work with her conditions and how it is also hard to even take care of her son and do the cooking and cleaning. When she was first diagnosed she was even kicked out of her home and rejected by her family. Luckily she was able to find support in a family friend who took her in.
Another place we got to visit was the insides of one of the older apartments at the Kiki hostels. The apartment was about 10’ x 10’ and housed at least three people. It was large enough to contain a double bed, a tiny kitchen area, and still have room for a chair to sit in. We learned from the family that when people living in the apartments lose their jobs and are unable to pay rent that is fine. In order to move out though, they must pay all the money that they owe from months that they didn’t pay rent. In other words, many of the families who live in the older apartments are unable to move because they can’t find jobs to pay the money that they owe because they couldn’t find jobs to pay rent. It is a terrible circle that many people will never be able to get out of.
Day 4:
The biggest thing that happened on day four was our visit to St. Luke’s Hospice care. In the US when the word hospice is mentioned people generally think of people who are living together in a hospital like setting when they are close to death. In Gugulethu however it is slightly different. Because of the lack of funding, people continue to live in their home but they have someone who visits them every third day or so. At first we were wary of going simply because we had visited so many homes and we were all feeling intrusive. Unfortunately, the first home that half of us visited confirmed that thought. The woman was living in a shack with HIV and was unable to leave her bed. She told us that she was growing tired of people, tourists mainly, visiting her. She is also sick of people making promises that are not fulfilled. After that point we all became really uncomfortable with making a second visit. Unfortunately we were somewhat guilt tripped into going to the second patient’s house. When we got there only half of us were willing to go in. It was only once we got in that we realized that they were going to change the dressings on his bed sores. The nurses exposed the sores on his butt and his legs and laughed asking if we wanted to take pictures of his bedsores. We were stunned and at first thought that they were joking. We quickly realized that they were not. They were stereotyping us as typical American tourists. In the past the tourists that they have had contact with have all taken many pictures of the people that they have visited so they thought that we would also take pictures. I didn’t take a picture but the view is something that I will never forget. The fact that they asked if we wanted pictures of the man’s bed sores made the whole thing feel like a tourist attraction. By taking numerous tourists there and letting them take pictures of a terminally ill man’s bedsores, it takes away what little pride he has left. It just reminded me of how different the cultures of the world. We took on the lens of the people of Gugs but the people of Gugs didn’t take on our lens. That made me realize how it really feels to have people judge and not take in to account where I am coming from and what I am used to. It is really important to be aware of the norms and ideals that the people around you hold near to their hearts.
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