Sushanguve is one of many towns on the outskirts of Pretoria, the South African capital. Just a few hundred metres from the new buildings and shopping centres that are springing up in the area is 'Extension 10', a succession of humble wooden and corrugated iron shacks that stretches as far as the eye can see, bordered by wasteland and rubbish dumps.
It is in this uninviting environment that we met with Maria Maropeng. Maria, aged 64, has been HIV positive for some years. She was in a serious condition for many months and was confined to bed. However, her health has greatly improved recently. She is up and about again and, when she is strong enough, she loves to go out and water her small garden.
Some months ago, Maria began benefiting from the home care programme run by the South African Red Cross Society. She receives regular visits from Martha Malatji, a young volunteer who also lives in Extension 10. Martha pays the elderly lady a visit every day from Monday to Thursday. "I check that she is following her antiretroviral treatment properly and watch out for any secondary effects. If I were to notice anything, I would take her to hospital immediately," Martha explains.
Martha also provides Maria with health and hygiene advice, makes sure that she has a balanced diet and gives her psychological support. "I am much better now, and the assistance that the Red Cross volunteer provides is really essential to me," said Maria, who has put on her best dress for our visit.
"I have been through difficult times," she continues in Tswana, her mother tongue, explaining that many of her neighbours turned their back on her when they found out that she was HIV-positive. "To them, I was already a ghost and would be dead in a couple of days, probably along with the rest of the members of my family who lived with me at that time," she recalled, almost amused as she remembers how amazed they were to see how she gradually got better. "In their eyes, I had been miraculously cured," she tells us, with a hint of malice.
David Stephens, the South African Red Cross Society health coordinator, explained: "Today, Maria makes no attempt to hide her illness. This requires courage, because HIV is still taboo in this district - which is why it is so important to step up information campaigns to combat discrimination against people living with the virus."
In spite of her suffering, and a face ravaged by illness, Maria glows with the joy of life. In the bleak environment of this deprived neighbourhood, it is heartening to see how she smiles at us, sits and chats serenely with Martha in her garden and tells us how she is successfully fighting the virus.
Maria's case is also interesting because she is elderly. "People tend to think that the elderly cannot become infected with HIV, just because the majority of people who are HIV positive are young," said Patrick Couteau, the regional HIV coordinator of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
"Maria's testimony highlights the need to take elderly people into account and meet the information needs of this population group, which is often neglected in the responses of government and the international community to the disease," he adds.
When it is time for us to leave, Maria shakes our hands, thanks us warmly for our visit and asks us when we will be coming back to see her again - although she knows that, whatever happens, Martha and the South African Red Cross Society will be there tomorrow and every other day to continue looking after her and help her fight her illness.
In order to help other people like Maria and train new volunteers like Martha, the International Federation established the Global Alliance on HIV in Southern Africa last year and has launched an appeal for 384 million Swiss francs (USD 300 million, EUR 241 million) to finance plans for a massive scaling up of the HIV/AIDS programme over five years in ten Southern African countries, including South Africa. The programme aims to halt the spread of HIV and reduce its impact, focusing on activities aimed at preventing the spread of the virus, increasing care, providing assistance for people living with HIV and combating the discrimination that they are often subjected to.
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Maria does not hide the fact that she is HIV-positive. Many of her neighbours believe that she has been 'miraculously' cured when they see that she is still alive. (p16740)
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Maria's health has greatly improved. She is now able to water her small garden again. (p16743)
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Maria lives in 'Extension 10', surrounded by wasteland and rubbish dumps.(p16742)
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| Maria receives regular visits from Martha Malatji, a South African Red Society volunteer who also lives and works in 'Extension 10'. (p16741) |
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