Home Based Care in Malangarini

Last week, we ventured out to visit some of St. Lucia's patients living in the rural outskirts of Arusha. The name of the village is Malangarini, and our first visit there was very much an eye opening experience. Neither Jeremy nor I have ever seen poverty of this magnitude in our lives. Probably not even on television, really.

Families with seven children live in huts the size of a walk-in closet, made of mud and sticks. They burn fires for food and warmth inside their small homes without much ventilation for the smoke. There is no electricity. Community water is sparse, pumped from a well at best. Children are everywhere, though. They are certainly, and very sadly, not in school. They carry plastic jugs with them, walking to the wells to get water. They later play with these same plastic jugs, for they double as their only real toys.

Income and livelihood is based on whatever crop you can manage to grow on your small plot of land. For many of the families we visited, it seems as if the husband is expected to provide for the family. And if he dies or leaves - as is the case for too many - the family is in rather dire straits. Most of these families were already in serious trouble anyhow, as their family members often suffer from life-threatening diseases.

Today we visited two families in St. Lucia's care. We started by helping a man who has a wound on his leg that will not heal due to cancer. We cleaned his wound and applying new bandages. We also educated his family on the importance of cleaning the wound daily and applying dressings. After our visit today, it is quite clear this man needs to go to a hospital to have the wound examined by a doctor, since his condition deteriorates each time we have visited him. We will help coordinate this trip next week.

Next, we checked in on a family of eight who has tuberculosis. St. Lucia has been working with this family for about one month, and has previously requested to look at the children's medical cards (provided by hospitals) to view the medications they have been given and ensure the medication is being taken correctly. In the past, the mother of the family has said she could not find the cards. Today, however, she produced the card of one child, and when Winfrida reviewed it, learned the child was HIV-positive.

Learning this information was quite shocking. There are many reasons why the family did not want to disclose the fact that at least one child is HIV-positive. Fear. Shame. Ignorance. Do all of the children have HIV? The mother is currently pregnant with a seventh child, as well. I am having a very hard time processing all of this information today. I have so many questions, so many concerns... Most of all, though, I wonder if anything can ever REALLY be done -- by anyone, least of all me -- to help?