PERSONAL STORIES

Mothers | Outreach coordinators | Volunteers

Mothers

Azenathi and Nobomi's story
As a 14-month-old baby, Azenathi weighed 5.7kg, was HIV+ and very sick. On our first outreach visit we tried to gather as much information as possible, despite the difficulty of being disturbed by neighbours curious to know who and why we were there.

Azenathi's 24-year-old mother, Nobomi, lives alone, abandoned by her family and boyfriend because of her sick baby. We asked if she had been attending a local clinic, but the answer was no, although she had a letter from a doctor. She should have been attending appointments at the Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town, but she had not had sufficient money to be able to do so for the previous 2 months. Asked why she was not going to the nearby clinic, in tears she responded, 'I will never go to that one, because everyone will laugh at my child as my neighbours do.'

Philani's Medical Doctor examined the child and referred her to the Red Cross Hospital. Azenathi has now started on ante-retroviral drugs and Nobomi no longer has difficulty in attending appointments. Thanks to a grant from Philani's Desmond Tutu Relief Fund, Nobomi has been able to pay for Azenathi to be cared for at a crèche while she works, she is able to buy food and is improving her shack. She is also saving money to attend night school.

Nosipho's story
Nosipho is an 18-year-old girl who was found destitute by one of our outreach workers. Orphaned and left alone by HIV, she had lived with her uncle, until she had a child herself and was thrown out by her uncle's wife. She was then given shelter by various friends, but had no money to clothe herself or her child and, by the time Nosipho was discovered by Philani, her 2-year-old child was severely malnourished.

Our first intervention was to assist Nosipho in replacing her lost ID book, as without it she was unable to obtain a government clinic card for her child. Our initial financial assistance with this failed, as, in desperation, Nosipho spent the money on food. We then enrolled her on to Philani's Desmond Tutu Relief Fund, offering modest financial assistance for 1 year. She was accompanied to obtain her ID by an outreach worker, finally has a clinic card for her child and has applied for a child support grant from the government. With the assistance of CHOSA, we were also able to build a home for Nosipho and her child. She has borrowed furniture and is proudly keeping the house immaculately clean.

In December 2006, Nosipho came to Philani and told us that she was planning to return to school in 2007. She had already organized care for her baby at a crèche and obtained a report from her previous school. The fact that she felt empowered to do this is testament to the strength of the human spirit to overcome immense obstacles, if support can be found and maintained. By building trusted relationships with clients, often young mothers without any other support, our outreach workers consistently demonstrate the weight of the grassroots approach of Philani's programmes.

Mrs Liwani's story
Early in the morning, while visiting families in Crossroads, we came across a 26-year-old mother pushing a trolley. Her 4-year-old child, walking barefoot, was helping his mother to push. Every Tuesday, when the rubbish bins were put out, Mrs Liwani would push her trolley, with her 8-month-old baby on her back, scratching in the bins to find anything she could eat, wear or sell.

This was a very striking sight. We accompanied Mrs Liwani until we reached a tiny one-roomed shack near the N2 freeway. A fire in a tin made the very neat room warm, two thin blankets were folded in a corner and a candle was pushed into a coca-cola bottle. On the table was a small amount of maize meal with a little sugar in a bottle. The baby was severely underweight at 4.5kg, dehydrated and having difficulty breathing. Both mother and children looked very hungry and tired. The baby had had diarrhoea for some time, so with a little sugar and salt, we quickly made an oral rehydration solution, which the baby drank quickly as she was so thirsty. We then took her to Philani's Medical Doctor as this was an emergency.

The child was admitted to the Red Cross Children's Hospital for 2 weeks, then stayed in Themba Care for 4 months. This relieved Mrs Liwani and gave her the chance to look at herself and her other child. We then arranged for Mrs Liwani to receive assistance from Philani's Desmond Tutu Relief Fund. With the first R300 she bought some soap to wash herself and her clothes, as well as maize meal, rice, samp and vegetables. She also budgeted for a few rands to enable her to visit her baby in hospital. The next time we visited the family we saw 2 new blankets and Mrs Liwani showed us a new pair of shoes she had bought for her son. The shack was becoming brighter and brighter at every visit.

Today Mrs Liwani is living in a 2-roomed shack, painted white outside, clean and neat inside. She is a mother with hope, who shows us smiles when we visit, instead of tears. She now pushes a trolley at the supermarket and plans each day of her family's life with confidence.