Day 16

This morning was our last day at our church holiday club. We made up our own group chants then we performed them in front of each other to see how good and loud we could do them. The children enjoyed this in particular as they learnt to speak some English. We made jointed people, snap on bracelets, team projects and champions challenge. At the end of the session we awarded the children with medals for their hard work.

This afternoon we visited two HIV/AIDS groups. This was very moving as we got to hear some of their personal testimonies about how they got infected and found out about their condition. We heard how one man plucked up the courage to take the test after 4 years of contemplating to find out he was HIV positive. He described how low and alone he felt, which is a common factor for those people suffering with HIV/AIDS. He was told to find his local group where other people with the infection were and to know how to live and cope with the condition. He has since, married a woman who is also HIV positive and they decided to have a child. When it is at the foetal stage, medication can be administered to protect the child from the disease. Their child is HIV negative! They are not having any more children and they count their blessings for the healthy child they have. They showed us a number of group leaders and explained how they would treat the ill members at their homes by feeding, washing, and general hygiene before they got to the stage where they were terminally ill and had to be administered to hospitals. The group pray for all the sick everyday to give them strength. Two women in particular were pointed out as they looked skin and bone and the skin on their faces had sunken in due to the lack of food and malnutrition for the medication they were receiving. Once we had seen and heard about this we, as a group decided the right thing to do was to give up our lunch for the next day and give the money to them so they could have a good meal or put it towards something that is needed.

The second group we visited was similar to the first one. However this one was in a health centre for the ill suffering with HIV/AIDS. As we arrived, we could hear singing and joy coming from inside the centre. We were welcomed by a group of women and children praising their thanks to us for visiting. The leader of the group explained the purpose and nature of the group. We heard life experiences from the people at the group. In particular one women who contracted HIV in 1994. She was raped during the genocide and infected. She was extremely traumatised by this experience and thought every man was an animal and didn't trust anyone she met. Since she joined this group, her spirits have been lifted and she is now able to live her life with the condition she has. She told us she went from being 40kg to now being 67kg due to the support she receives.

Both groups have been helped by PHARP and also by the support of the Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury districts. We have sent them sewing and knitting machines. This allows them to make a living out of clothes, toys and jewellery that they produce. We plan to raise more money to send more machines to them so that they have the opportunity to further increase their income so they can afford food, medicine and support for their families after they die.