Mission Moment

AmeriCares is an organization that I have mentioned before that funds some community projects here at Malamulo. I work closely with two ladies there - Megan and Elikem. Recently Megan asked if we could send them a story for them to use in a 5 minute "mission moment" that they send to all departments on Monday mornings so that other areas can have a taste of what happens in the field at their partners. Today (the deadline for the story) I was finally able to get a story and I wanted to share it here. This is the reason I'm here...

Ethel Matewere’s home village is Khwethmule Village about 5 kilometers from the hospital. She is a divorcee with four children. In 2005 Ethel was tested for HIV/AIDS while she was pregnant and found to be positive. After delivering her baby and participating in the PMTCT Program her baby was tested at 18 months and found to be HIV negative. This was a success story for Ethel, her family, and the Malamulo Project. She was selected by her community in 2006 to be trained as a Home Based Care (HBC) volunteer. After attended HBC training as part of the AmeriCares project at Malamulo Hospital she has been working in her community for the past three years. She is now on ARV’s and is actively following the information given to her during her HIV counseling session. She is well and active with her family and community.

Upon joining the HBC program and completing the training she was given a backpack and a bicycle. Every month she comes to the hospital to submit her report and collect the supplies like gloves, drugs, and condoms to take back to the people in her village. Last month there were five people chronically ill with HIV/AIDS in her village and she was visiting them regularly (2 of which recently passed away). Her responsibilities include visiting the chronically ill, encouraging the ill people to go to the hospital as soon as possible, and teaching people how to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS to their babies. The biggest encouragement to her community is when she is able to share her story of success and explain the process to the expectant mothers.

Ethel is also an active member of a mother support group at Malamulo Hospital. This group of 50-70 mothers is all HIV positive and some come from Ethel’s home area. Often these mothers are sick with infections and Ethel visits those within her community to care for them. When asked about AmeriCares Ethel said, “I appreciate the services that are being rendered for my community from AmeriCares through Malamulo Hospital.”