Tembe and Tholulwazi

Jim and I had a great weekend in Tembe Elephant Park. We stayed from Friday to Sunday. The park was beautiful, but unfortunately it rained almost the entire time we were there. It was quite out of the ordinary and really bad timing because in the rain, the animals all hide deep in the bush. So, after three three-hour game drives, all we saw were giraffe (3), one elephant, tons of buck, and then small animals like monkeys, birds, etc. It was a little disappointing not to have seen any rhino, water buffalo, or lion, but it was still a great time. We ate delicious food and got to know a Dutch doctor named Joast from Manguzi and his girlfriend, Judith. They are a fun couple, and Judith is actually going to start volunteering with Tholulwazi. She is very artsy and has agreed to work with our HIV Drama Group. She has been in lots of plays in the past and has great ideas for this drama to really influence people’s decisions and desire to test. She is also very computer savvy, and I think she’ll eventually help with maintaining the Tholulwazi website and database.

On Saturday, between game drives, Jim and I had to drive back to Manguzi for a funeral. The Zulu family Jim lived with last year is going through a very tough time. His “sister” just had a baby three months ago named Nigagela, and she has been very sickly. She has been in and out of the hospital until finally last week she was admitted and then discharged because she was doing better. However, the next night, she was brought back to the hospital with her stomach swelling and her not being able to urinate or pass anything. Then slowly her organ systems just started shutting down, and she passed away. Jim and I first heard this story and didn’t understand. What was wrong with this little baby and could anything have prevented this? After talking with a few people, we started to guess what may have actually been happening. Jim’s “sister” (the mother of the child) is a nurse at the hospital, but all throughout her pregnancy she refused to test for HIV. So, we suspect she is HIV+ and so was the baby. We often hear that teachers and nurses are the hardest people to convince to test, and it is so heartbreaking. There are drugs here in South Africa – AZT and Neviropene – that if given to a pregnant HIV+ woman, they can prevent mother to child transmission up to 90% of the time. But, people here are so scared to test and for other people to know they tested or know they have the disease that instead they sacrifice the health of their children because of their own fears. Another suspicion about the baby’s death is that when the child’s stomach was swelling during its final hospital visit, there were markings around the child’s belly button. The doctors suspect the family brought the baby to a witch doctor who poisoned the child with an herbal enema. Sadly, this is not uncommon. Our area is filled with “Sangomas” or witchdoctors who do all types of “healings” which usually aren’t good – especially for children because they have no way of measuring dosage for people.

Anyhow, because of all these factors it was a difficult funeral to attend – the death of an innocent child, as well as the discovery that a close friend is HIV+. For the funeral, the tradition is to first meet at the mortuary, sing songs, and then load the casket to go to the funeral. During this time, some family members bring branches from a specific tree and wave them over the body. They believe the soul of the person is captured in the branch and then they bring the “soul/branch” back to their house so the person can live in their house forever. This goes along with a lot of the culture’s reverence for their ancestors – often to the point of worshipping them.

After the time at the mortuary, everyone drove in a line to the father of the baby’s house, where there was an enormous tent set up. People wail at this place, expressing their grief very publicly. Then, there is a service in the tent and a big meal. We didn’t stay for the entire ceremony; however, because we had to get back to Tembe for the game drive. Overall, it was a strange weekend for us – great because of our little getaway but emotionally draining because of the funeral. But, I guess that is just how things are here – we are exposed to heartbreaking suffering, poverty, and disease – but we still have to carry on.

This week at work we are all planning for the Christmas party. Yesterday we got 5 boxes of candy donated which will be great for the kids and a different store donated three boxes of clothes. Additionally, we have a 2-week Life Skills Course taking place in the center and in the library with a total of 100+ high school students. Finally, Jim and I are doing some training with Joi (the old Program Coordinator) on maintaining the website and using photoshop. So, as usual there is a lot going on, but I can’t complain because next Friday we go on leave for two weeks. We hope you all are having lovely holiday seasons and getting ready for Christmas.