It's been nearly a year since my trip to Zimbabwe, but it has been on my mind quite a bit lately. This is partly due to the emails I've been reading about Veronica's son, Kudzai, traveling to Portland to attend school. It's also due to the emails about the painting over of a beautiful mural depicting the community of St. Werburgh's in Chigadora Zimunya outside of Mutare. Regardless of the impetus behind Zimbabwe being towards the forefront of my mind, I felt a need to followup with Veronica.
Veronica Nyoni is the remarkable woman responsible for getting the Mutare side of the Portland-Mutare Sister City relationship. She is Head Mistress at the school and overseas pretty much all of the other activities in one form or another. She has the help of a wonderful husband and family and a strong community. I can't say enough about her strength and faith in an environment that is not always welcoming to hope.
The picture shown here was taken on the day our delegation visit the school and clinic last October. The two young girls in the picture are Tania, age 11, and Kudakwashe, age 13. They are both living with HIV. At the time of our visit, Kuda was quite ill and I really didn't expect her to live much longer. Her belly was so swollen which I was told was a result of her system shutting down. However, this morning I had an email from Veronicah giving me the news that both girls are still living and continuing with hope and faith.
The photograph is just one of a series of photos taken as I talked to these young girls. I was down on my knees so that we could see each other eye to eye. I didn't want to be the imposing adult, making them look up to me. I wanted to be as close to their equal as possible. It was a hard time emotionally. I can remember telling them to remain strong and keep their hope alive. I didn't make the promise that things would be better as I didn't want a promise to be broken. However, I knew there can always be hope.
Their lives are not easy. Tania was already living in a child headed household having lost both of her parents. She had bounced around a bit among relatives and eventually came to be in the St. Werburgh community where teachers can help to oversee the family. Currently, she is suffering from a serious skin rash.
Kuda has had a very difficult year. She had already lost both of her parents and was living with her grandmother. As is often the case, the grandmother had become the primary caregiver to Kuda and her two brothers and her older sister. But, unfortunately, the grandmother died leaving them as a child headed household. Kuda went terribly sick after the death of her grandmother.
Being a child headed family challenges the taking of her medication. The sister and clinic staff have come up with a method of making sure the medicines are taken at school. The teachers have also been trained to counsel and are giving additional psycho-social support. They've even begun school based support groups.
What is the demand for such support groups? The school currently has 984 students enrolled. Roughly 44% have lost at least one of their parents. This means that, for many, the remaining parent is also living with HIV/AIDS. It also means that many of the students are HIV infected. From May to the 2nd of August, 3 children died and 7 remain gravely ill.
It's a constant struggle and an uphill battle. However, the people of this community have an enduring faith that times will improve. The struggle will make them stronger. It is a faith that I continue to be in awe of as I struggle through my own daily life. It provides me with a nourishment of strength that I sometime forget that I possess. I'm blessed to have experienced their warmth and comfort.
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