Already a month and nine days in Cape Town! Everyday in Cape Town seems to be filled with emotions such as happiness sadness and excitement. On Friday I visited Themba Care which is where I will be doing my activist project on Fridays. Themba Care is a care center for babies and children who have AIDS. They receive babies that are referred from the red cross hospital, one and each of these children have their stories.
On Friday I only had the chance to interact with the babies. When I arrived I was very excited to see the babies because I have been looking forward to see them all week ; it also made very sad to see them because they were sick and infected by a virus that they had no control over. Even though we did not get a proper orientation that Friday, because there was a staff meeting ,we still got to see the kids and spend some time with them. I spent four hours plying with them, I even had the chance to feed two of them, a two year old and a nine year old.
While I was there I had the chance to listen to a few stories about these kids. Some of them are dropped at Themba Care because their parents have HIV, they get rid of the children so their family don’t find out, others are there because there parents are too poor to take of them or to provide them with the right medication. I was really sad to listen to these stories where some of the kids are abandoned because of society’s discrimination against people with AIDS. I feel like people living with HIV/AIDS should not be stigmatized by society, they are people just like us , they just need a little more support, love and comprehension because they are going through some rough times. The fact that adults are rejected by society makes even more difficult for the babies growing up with it because some of them are abandoned by their parents due to lack of resources or comprehension from their families.
Overall Themba Care was a good experience and I am really excited and honored to be volunteering there. I feel like these kids need love and a second chance from society because they are just like every other child out there.
Yesterday [Feb. 23rd] was Katherine, Rachel and my birthday. Our housemates were very thoughtful and made us cupcakes and got each of us present . I was very happy because it was so nice from them to do that when they didn’t have to… I just want to thank them and let them know that I am very grateful to have them in my life . I would not one to share this experience with any other students but them! This weekend we are going to Plattenburg and I’m really excited and look forward to it!
No comments:
Post a Comment