May 2018 Update

Our partner Maipelo’s May clinic was very busy, with 31 adults and 10 children stopping by to see our volunteers and receive HIV treatment. We are very grateful that a new doctor, Tendai, has joined us from Zimbabwe to help manage all of these patients. Welcome, Tendai!

Perhaps our most exciting piece of news is that two babies were confirmed to be HIV negative. Because we were able to get their mothers on HIV treatment while they were pregnant, their babies were born healthy. Needless to say, both moms were overjoyed with the news! While medication to prevent a baby from being born with HIV can cost as little as $20, many people still lack access to such treatment. We are therefore very thankful to all of our generous supporters who helped ensure that these two babies can grow up without HIV.

We also saw a young woman who was diagnosed with HIV while pregnant, but since she did not receive treatment her son was born HIV positive. After her son spent a month in the hospital, the two of them were referred to Maipelo and started on treatment. We are happy to report that the baby’s weight is now normal.

All in we saw 7 pregnant patients, three of whom are first time visitors to Maipelo. One of them will deliver her baby soon, so we ensured that she had the necessary medication to help prevent her baby from being born with HIV.

While the clinic certainly had its share of happy news, we also have a few sad stories to relay as well. One of them is told by volunteer physician Rachel about her patient Celani: “My most intense experience was with a woman I just knew had to break at some point. I started both Celani and her husband on HIV treatment in December. She hadn’t been able to cope with starting on treatment for the previous few months, since her 12-year-old child passed away from AIDS. She is trying to keep it together, and brought along her other 4-year-old child who is HIV positive. Today, she just cried and cried and talked and talked. Celani is grieving so deeply for her child. Her husband’s family has forced her to move out, blaming her for the child’s death. Though she brings her husband to the clinic every month, she wanted me to know that they aren’t the happy family they appear to be. She is having panic attacks and continues to struggle. We started her on antidepressants today and I want more than anything to find her a counseling and support group.” We will keep you all posted on Celani in the coming months.

We are also concerned about the difficulty our patients are experiencing in trying to get lab tests done. Because our patients are not citizens, they are often stopped and turned over to the police.

It is only through the support of generous supporters like you that we are able to continue to see these patients in times both good and bad. We hope you will consider donating, or passing along our story to you friends and family. Thank you for stopping by - until next time!