A Bendigo health worker volunteering in Africa has witnessed the impact of HIV/AIDS on some of the continent’s most impoverished communities.
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At a time when Australian health authorities are declaring an end to AIDS as a public health issue, the disease continues to ravage developing countries around the world.
VACountry employee Harry McAnulty and a team of Australian volunteers have joined not-for-profit Possible Dreams International in its native Swaziland, the landlocked south African country where more than one-quarter of the population is believed to be living with HIV/AIDS.
While treatments capable of preventing the virus’ progress into AIDS are freely available in Swaziland, most people living with the illness cannot afford the 36 rand – or $3.30 – it costs each week to reach their nearest clinic.
In 2013, 4,500 Swazi people died from AIDS-related illnesses.
The epidemic is just part of what Mr McAnulty called an “insidious” poverty cycle in the country.
“A generation of children will grow up not knowing their parents,” he said.
Caring for children orphaned by AIDS is a responsibility that falls to gogos – the Swazi word for grandmothers – who have seen their own sons and daughters die from the illness.
They live in homes made of mud and sticks, often with holes in their roofs and walls. Some families do not have mattresses or bedding, sleeping on concrete floors instead.
The closest source of water can be as far as one hour from their home.
Compounding the people’s suffering is the country’s worst drought in 35 years, a situation that has left thousands without food and prompted the government to declare a national state of emergency.
Mr McAnulty’s trip is focused on developing sustainable development projects that he hopes will help the communities recover from hardship.
Since arriving in early July, the team has already implemented indigenous chicken and beef farming programs, as well as installing a solar-powered mobile phone charging unit.
They have also launched a crowdfunding campaign, hoping to to net $25,000 for the rural Swazi community of Matsetsa.
The money will be used to build four new houses in which Gogos will raise their adopted children, and the establishment of a soup kitchen to feed orphans and elderly people who cannot care for themselves.
These contributions were enough to conjure a “glisten of hope and happiness” in the eyes of suffering Swazis, Mr McAnulty said.
To donate to the Matsetsa project, visit http://bit.ly/PDIgofundme.