work

a number of people have emailed me, curious for more details about my work. so i thought i'd give a little update about the highlights since FBS reopened after the holidays.

the 18th of every month is the day when our caregivers come into the office. every other month there is a meeting where they discuss issues that arise and share how their work is going. january wasn't a month for a meeting, so the gathering consisted of them turning in their forms, which keep track of the patients they visited and the supplies they distributed. they also collect an E 100 (about $15) voucher for shoprite, a grocery store. this is their thank-you for the work that they do. and they collect fresh supplies from our storeroom.

on a side note: most of our home-based care supplies come from the mcc aids care kits, which are unpacked and the individual items are given out on an as-needed basis. it was fun to see christmas pictures of my brother femi showing off a bottle of gold bond body powder that he'd gotten in his stocking as part of my family's efforts to make up an AIDS care kit, and then distribute an identical bottle to a caregiver the very next day. thank you to everyone who is participating in making the care kits - they are really useful and the recipients are always grateful to receive even a little token of care.

since i've arrived in swaziland, i've attended numerous workshops and trainings and witnessed our peer educators attending even more. many NGOs and church groups here use workshops as a way to disseminate information and skills, especially to youth who are no longer in school but unemployed. FBS is a channel to connect some of the youth we work with to trainings which are interesting and useful to them. recently, we've launched a TOT (training of trainers) program. five of our peer educators have spent the past months being trained in drama, life skills, sunday school teaching, livelihood skills (crafts) and HIV and AIDS awareness.

my own host sister, zinhle, has been learning how to weave with grass from a place called gone rural, which sells handicrafts made by local women. she is quite good at it and on a typical afternoon you can find much of our household involved in the process. make is braiding the loose grass into rope, i or one of the children is using scissors to trim the rope smooth, zinhle is sewing the rope into a table mat or coaster or whatever she is making that day, and my other sister nonhlanhla is trimming the finished product or perhaps ironing it flat. it's a good source of income for her, and now she is beginning to share her skills with others.

so recently this groups of TOTs has been visiting the 10 zionist churches that FBS partners with. the trainers give short presentations on their topic and then the youth in the church decide which skills they would like to be trained in. we're trying to set up a training schedule so that the trainers can begin spreading what they've learned to our constituency. i got to visit maranatha church in zion a couple weeks ago, and it was exciting to hear the trainers speaking about what they've been learning, and also to see the youth in the church respond as to what topics they would like to learn about. it was also fun when i stood up to introduce the program and explain what we would be presenting to them, when i first introduced myself and explained what i was doing at FBS in siswati. the youth just stared back at me with blank looks on their faces, and so i was afraid my siswati was so convoluted that they weren't understanding a thing. but afterwards i asked one of our trainers if i had been coherent, and he assured me that i was and said that the blank looks were due to the shock everyone felt when i began speaking in siswati.

i've also recently begun volunteering once a week at hope house, which is a half-way home for terminally ill patients. 99% of them are HIV+, and hope house provides a place for them to stay after they're discharged from the hospital but before returning to their home area. the initial admission period is a month, although this can be extended on a case-by-case basis. this provides a time for them to get rested up and strong. the two nurses at hope house are there around the clock to monitor the patients and teach them how to take their medications. many patients are also started on ARVs during this time, and the cocktail of pills and the strict schedule that must be followed takes a lot of getting used to. many patients do not understand ARVs and what they do and how to take them, so an important role for the nurses is to counsel the patients, educate them about ARVs, and monitor them to make sure the drugs are being taken correctly.

hope house has 11 units occupied at the moment. the houses are really wonderful, comfortable with beds for the patient and a family member or friend to act as a "minder" - to cook and clean and take care of them and keep them company. they also have a small kitchenette area, a table and chairs, couches, and an indoor bathroom (what luxury!) hope house is run by two indian nuns, and then there is the housekeeper, make thandi, and the two nurses, bridget and cynthia. i've only been there twice so far, but i think it will be a good opportunity for building relationships and finding out more about the medical care and treatment side of HIV and AIDS. so far i've learned how to take blood pressure (the old-school way, with a stethescope and contraption with rising and falling mercury to indicate the levels), dispensed pills, helped with odd jobs like moving furniture. mostly i just follow the nurses around, and we spend a great deal of time just hanging out with the patients and their visitors. they're always so happy to have visitors, especially the ones who are too weak to leave their beds, and there are a few who don't have minders with them and must spend their lonely days by themselves in their houses. it doesn't matter if you talk in english or siswati, if you make sense or not, if you look at a magazine together or comment on the music video on tv, even if you talk or not. they're just happy you're there.