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FEATURE: Like Ambulances
Mozambique: LWF AIDS Activists Bring Hope to Communities
MAPUTO, Mozambique/GENEVA, 10 July 2007 (LWI) * A typical hot afternoon in Chamanculo "D", a shanty town near the fashionable suburbs of Mozambiqueâs capital, Maputo. The group of 12 - ten women and two men - break up into smaller teams of two or three and map out the area and blocks of houses they will be visiting today.
Alice Muyanga, Alice Filipe Hunguana and Maria Julio Mahlelela are among the women in the group of community-based HIV and AIDS activists on their regular home visits in the township. The Mozambique country program of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS) supports the group, known as activistas.
"This is our work * we make house calls," says Mahlelela, fondly referred to as Mama Maria within the community. "We do not have an office where people can come to us for help, our offices are the peopleâs homes," she explains.
The activistas provide home-based care to people living with HIV and AIDS. It is a multi-faceted task of counseling, training on nutritious diets, and ferrying patients to and from hospital for treatment. They also address the issue of stigma within the community by publicly talking about the virus and AIDS.
The Chamanculo township is divided into four districts - A, B, C and D - with a total population of over 800,000 residents. The LWF activistas cover Chamanculo "D", with some 80,000 people.
Civil War
Mama Maria explains Chamanculo's meaning - "huge bath" - coined in the late 1970s when the area was flooded. The gradual influx of thousands of internally displaced persons fleeing the 1976-1992 civil war put further pressure on the township's poor infrastructure. After the war, the people did not return to their original homes. Chamanculo - comprising tiny houses, some with brick, mud or tin walls with iron sheet roofing, or simply straw with plastic roofing, built along narrow dust roads - became home.
There are many young adult men and women sitting under tree shades or simply walking around.
"That is the sad story of Chamanculo," says Hunguana. "Poverty here is real. Unemployment is very high, the housing conditions are terrible, no running water, toilets or electricity, and on top of that we have HIV and AIDS to deal with ... those are the challenges we have to face as we do our work," she notes sadly.
Family Support
The activistas currently support around 100 people in the area. It is difficult to go into homes and simply talk about HIV and AIDS without addressing the other issues that the families face, explains Hunguana. Human rights issues, sexual rights and violence at home are important subjects, for which the activistas receive training through DWS Mozambique.
Today, the three care-givers find Caroline Siveriano Cumbe, a former domestic worker in South Africa, lying on a mat under a shade.
"We were shocked when she first came [home]," says her sister Maria Julia, one of the seven siblings who live in the Cumbe household and look after their ailing sister. "We knew she was sick, but did not know the extent to which her body had wasted away," she explains. None of the household members are formally employed, they make a living doing odd jobs including selling small items.
The activistas are happy with Caroline's condition. "She is very lucky [to have] her family around to support her emotionally and psychologically," Hunguana remarks.
"I know my sister finds her strength in me. I know the struggles and pain she is going through, I have been through that, and I encourage her to hold on," says her brother Atanasio, also living with HIV and getting help from the LWF-supported group. He is one of the first people to be included in the LWF Chamanculo "D" housing project for people living with HIV and AIDS. A total of ten houses comprising two large rooms, as well as a pit latrine and shower room have been constructed.
For the past two-years, Alice Muyanga has been paying home visits to 28-year-old Olinda Antonio a mother of one, currently living with her sister.
"I am very happy to see her so strong and fending for herself," says Muyanga, recalling the first visits when Olinda could hardly walk, and a medical nurse had to come in regularly. Now when the activistas visit it is to provide emotional support "and make sure she sticks to her treatment plan, and that she is eating nutritious food," Muyanga explains.
A Sewing Project
Julieta Marule Novela, 43, and her two children previously lived in Gaza. They moved to Chamanculo after her eldest son, upon learning of her HIV status, refused to take care of her and also sold most of her personal property. In Maputo, the activistas facilitated Novela's antiretroviral treatment including transportation to and from hospital.
"I am feeling much better since I started the treatment," says Novela. Together with her sister's family, they have two sewing machines, which they use to make clothes to raise money for the familyâs basic needs.
Satisfied with Novela's condition, the LWF-supported care givers return to the community center to regroup and update each other on their visits and plans for the next day.
Addressing Stigma
Activista Alice Filipe Hunguana was the first person in the community to come out publicly about her HIV status. Her openness and frankness has helped in reducing the stigma within Chamanculo âD.â She says many people living with HIV do not want others to know about their status, âbecause AIDS is still seen as a moral issue rather than a health issue.â
Five-years ago, it was difficult for the activists to move around in the community to visit people affected by the pandemic. "Some people would slam their doors in your face," recalls Mama Maria. "Now people come willingly to us wanting our help ... some come at night," she notes.
As activists, âwe assure people that we are there for them. Some of those whom we approach later on become activists.â A smiling Hunguana adds, "We are like ambulances, on call 24 hours."
*The LWF/DWS Mozambique program is community-based, spanning five of the countryâs ten provinces. One of its key objectives is to support communities to reduce risk and vulnerability to HIV and AIDS, and alleviate the impact of the epidemic. (1,013 words)
**Zimbabwean journalist Diana Mavunduse wrote this feature article for LWI during a recent visit to Mozambique. Mavunduse is the communications coordinator for the Primateâs World Relief and Development Fund, the relief and development agency of the Anglican Church of Canada.
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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the world, with a total membership of nearly 66.7 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)
[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]
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