Putting a Face to the Cause

I had the privilege of meeting Efremu last Saturday. With an energy that is not typical of a man who is 55 years old, he spends his days walking sometimes 8 hours or more per day, visiting people who have HIV/AIDS in the villages of the surrounding Arusha area. He doesn't get paid, and he was never "assigned" this task. He simply believes tupo pamoja (we are here together) and because of this, we should help each other.

He talked to us about how the culture in TZ, and in Africa overall, is centered around community. If one person gets sick, they do not suffer alone - rather, the community pulls together to help them, whether it be by donating food or time to care for them. It was like having one big family - everyone gives help, everyone receives help. However, with increased exposure to Western culture, he noticed that more and more people were becoming dissatisfied with what they had and attitudes have shifted from selflessness to selfishness - today the priority is not to lend a helping hand to your neighbor but rather to use surplus time and resources to get material objects and live like an American. Luckily, although Efremu is always surrounded by the American volunteers and staff of SIC, he still sticks strongly to his beliefs.

Although we only visited 2 patients, it took the majority of the day (from 9:30 to 2:30pm). They are sisters, and they live about a 30 minute walk from central Arusha. Efremu says he sees them at least every other day, selling shoes on the street. They are never apart - even their homes are only a 5 minute walk from one another. It is so fortunate that they have each other - in fact, one sister persuaded the other to get tested for HIV, which is so great, because her CD4 count was still high, so she can take the steps to lengthen her quiet period (the period in which someone who is HIV+ can live with no symptoms of illness), which essentially means that she can live a longer and healthier life. For both of them, their husbands ran away when they found out their wives were HIV+, leaving them with their three children. They only have enough income to rent a single room. When we walked inside, the rooms were crammed with all of their personal belongings. They had one bed which they all shared, a few chairs to accommodate guests, and one coffee table. Because there is so little floorspace, their clothes were hanging from one side of the room to the other on wire lines, and their things were stacked all the way up to the ceiling. The walls were mud that has been compressed to fit between wooden planks and the ceiling was stacked sheet metal. Their entryway was composed of potato sacks laid carefully on top of the mud and they cook inside, which causes a thick smoke to fill the room. Aside from one window, there was barely any sunlight - at night they eat dinner by light of a kerosene lamp.

They live extremely simply because they have to - the shoe business is not very profitable - yet they are so openly giving. During our visit they demanded that they share their food with us, even though they have so little. As part of the AIDS patient visits, SIC has set aside part of the budget to give volunteers Tsh 10,000 ($10) to spend on the HIV+ patients we visit to help them in any way we decide. Many families barely have enough to eat, and these families were no different. However, when the families found out we were students, they were so hesitant to tell us what they needed. Efremu would ask them, "Do you have rice? cooking oil? soap?" and they would reply, "No." But they didn't want us to buy them anything. It was so rewarding to walk with them to the duka and give them the things they needed and have them look at you with so much gratitude in their faces when they said "Nashukuru sana" (I am very thankful).

It really put a face to the cause. So much of our work here is Prevention, so it is not often that we do meet people who are HIV+. The experience was so powerful. To know that through education, we can prevent situations similar to these from happening. I spent much of this week thinking about it.

And finally, to end, a very cute/funny text message from my baba. To give some background, I left the house without getting breakfast (because we had teaching and I couldn't wait any longer for it to arrive) and I wasn't going to return until 2:30.
"I felt embarassed as mama Sam told me that u didnt took ur breakfast bcos th bread was late. It is a long run begining frm morning till 230 without it. Plse come back4ur breakfast on 10. Tell them that u got head-ache and u need2come home immidiately 4 pain reflief tablets. -baba Sam"