For my activist project I worked I did two activities one was working with children infected with HIV/AIDS at Themba Care on Fridays and the second one was visiting where the students I work with on a daily basis live.
Working at Themba Care was definitely an enjoyable and emotional experience at the same time. I got to work with children infected by HIV/AIDS whose parents couldn’t take care of them either because of economical or social problems. I have been working with kids for a while now and never I have worked with kids stigmatized by society because of something they cannot help, something that they haven’t chose to be born with. Working with these children at first I was a bit nervous because I didn’t know what to expect, but once I got there I was so happy to hold them , play with them and feed them. They are just like any other babies, they cry, the laugh, they play and they just want to be loved the only difference is that they have to live with this disease that is stigmatized by society. Volunteering at Themba Care was a great experience for me because now I can say that I’ve been around someone with HIV/AIDS and there is absolutely nothing different between their behavior and a normal children’s behavior.
My other activist project was going into the townships to visit some of the children I worked with homes. This was such an amazing experience because if felt like I could put a background to these children that I love so much. First, I visited an informal settlement where one of my “favorite” children lives in, it was a 2 room with only one bed for four people. It was really heartbreaking because I have grown in the past three months to love that little girl so much so meeting her parents, seeing where she came from and hearing her family’s story was very touching and I felt like this visit was done at a good time of the trip because I have got to know this little girl in the past months. If I had made these visit in the weeks I had been here I feel like it wouldn’t have affected me so much because at this point I didn’t have such a one on one relationship with them, I feel like its more personal at this point, I am not that stranger from the United States that is coming here to visit, I feel like they know me and so do I. The other house that I visited was in Hanover Park which was not an informal settlement, but they had just moved in. The parents were very friendly and told us how she got her house now. She was a very grateful women and one thing she said was “ I am very grateful for what the Lord has given me, I am not going to complain because I know there are people that are way worse off than I am” that sentence really struck me because I feel like she has been through so much, even though she’s living in a small house she is very grateful for what she has.
I feel like I have learned so much from my activist project because it has given such a different view on people who are infected with HIV/AIDS, spending time with these children made it so much more meaningful to me because I really love being around children I love them so much. This experience has given me a totally different perspective on this whole virus and how people are stigmatized in society.
Going into the townships visiting the children I work with house’s I can say was the cherry on top of the cake, because it was a real eye opener on how children can cover up what they go through in a daily basis. They are always happy when they are in school, but I feel like they are very different home because they are in a different environment. I really enjoyed doing both my activists projects.
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