December 2005

To Val 12/10/05
Val,
If you are reading this, I am sorry to tell you that Hlobsile did not make it.  Apparently she died last week while I was visiting Tanzania with my sister.  I regret I was not able to be with her those last few days- she fought so hard.  I will always remember that day I went to the hospital to visit her. She was sitting all by herself outside in the sunshine in the new blouse you bought her, alone, sun on her skin. God she was sick.  Her struggle to wrestle a little life out of her ravaged body was inspiring but wrenching at the same time.  We should all try so hard to live.  We should all want it so much. Am sorry.


Z’s mother 12/12/05
Z's mother was buried today.


12/11/05

UNAids: 'Prevention strategies aren't working'

 Emmanuel Goujon

Abuja, Nigeria 

 08 December 2005 07:51

 It is time to rethink the strategies used so far in the fight against HIV/Aids as they have shown their limitations, particularly in Africa, according to Michel Sidibe, the Malian who is deputy head of UNAids, the body coordinating the fight against the

pandemic. "Sadly, the epidemic continues to spread. There are three reasons for thinking that our strategies and our approaches arent adequate," he told Agence France Presse on the sidelines of the 14th International Conference on Aids in Africa (Icasa) that opened Sunday in Abuja. "First, every year we see an increase in the number of infections. That proves prevention strategies aren't working", he explained. "Moreover, even if were scared to say so, we havent been able to cut the number of Aids-linked deaths in Africa and that proves that drugs are not being made available," he added.

In 2005, 2,4-million Africans died in the pandemic.

Currently about 500 000 Africans are on anti-retrovirals whereas UNAids estimates that a total of 4,7-million children and adults on the worlds poorest continent are in need of such treatment.

Thirdly, Sidibe emphasized two new factors exacerbating the problem: the high rate of infection in women, especially in young women, and the way that children are for the first time being hit by the epidemic. "There is a danger that the combination of those two factors might create a social catastrophe that could in the long term prove one of the most difficult to manage in Africa. The continents elite have not, as yet, measured the gravity of the danger," he explained. According to UNAids figures, sub-Saharan Africa is home to just over 10% of the world's total population but accounts for more than 60% of the total number of people infected by the virus worldwide. The deputy chief of UNAids pointed to a dangerous trend: "Its something one notices even in the West: the new cases of HIV infection are occurring in the poorest sections of society."

In the face of such gloom and doom, Sidibe advocates "a more creative approach, more hands-on and more in keeping with cultural reality" for prevention and better coordination between the different parties in the struggle.

"There is a multitude of actors and a multitude of sources of funding, but no coordination, meaning that public servants and associations spend more time in their offices writing reports and drawing up funding requests than they do implementing projects on the ground", he said. Sidibe feels that, for it to be effective, the fight against HIV/Aids must go hand in hand with the development of democracy on the continent.

"To manage this type of crisis, one needs a strong and democratic state that has the interest of the public at heart, because without democracy there is no obligation to get results", he said. - Sapa-AFP

New girls 12/14/05

Three new girls, ~12, 11, and 6, and their tiny brother, maybe 3, arrived at the orphanage yesterday.  About a month ago their sister was hit by a car and was killed.  Shortly thereafter, their mother, the second wife to their father, killed herself by eating weevil poison.  Rumor has it that the father forced fed her the tablets to get the insurance money for the death of the child.  There was not enough evidence to arrest him.  Since that time, the father has been abusing the children and the grandfather collected them all and asked to have them placed at the orphanage.  They showed up in the grandfather’s pickup, sad and tentative.  After ensuring with the house mother that they could stay (the tiny boy will go the the boy’s orphanage in Manzini), the grandfather took the oldest girl home to collect their clothes.   A few hours later, as I was walking to town, I passed the girl walking alone with a bundle of clothes on her head and a bag full on her arm.  They made her walk the 4 miles back to the orphanage with all the clothes.  It’s like that here.