Health < Feature Story

Bay Area Delegation Witnesses Malawi AIDS Crisis

Malawi is one of the dozen poorest nations in the world, and one of the hardest hit by AIDS. According to the UNAIDS "Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic" for 2002, Malawi's population of 11 million counted some 850,000 living with H.I.V. infection or AIDS at the end of last year.

The current famine affecting central and southern Africa has only added to the country's woes.

In June, I was part of a delegation to Malawi from the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance (GAIA), a BAIDO member. Joining me were Rev. Dr. William Rankin, chief executive of GAIA, and Dr. Sally Rankin, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco who is studying women and H.I.V. in Malawi.

Everywhere, we saw visible signs of the epidemic. Furniture makers do a good business selling coffins, which they make and advertise at roadside shops along with everyday goods. We passed a number of roadside funerals, each death marked with the haunting and rich harmonic singing of large groups of graveside mourners.

Every adult we asked during our visit spoke of losing one or more relatives to the disease. Many were caring for orphaned nieces and nephews. One woman told us that 10 years ago she decided not to take in an AIDS orphan because she felt she was too old to be raising a child. Now, however, she is raising two.

"Everyone is taking care of orphans, we just have to do it," she said.

In one village we visited, a grandmother struggled to care for more than 20 orphans. She could only offer each a bowl of maize porridge every other day, and tea with sugar otherwise. A young man from the same village said, "I am the only one left. In this village my entire generation has been wiped out."

Yet even amidst so much loss, we found love, laughter and life. Malawians are making extraordinary efforts to educate their young people about the disease, to provide care for the ill, and to address the underlying problems of poverty and gender inequality.

In the village of Chimwaye, an H.I.V. peer-education project partly funded by GAIA, found a creative way to get the message across to 300 villagers on one day. After a soccer match, the young men and women staged dramas, songs, and poetry readings to encourage H.I.V. protection and compassion for those who carried the virus.

Dr. Sally Rankin gathered a group of women at the University of Malawi to talk about the status of women and H.I.V. Eager for information and deeply concerned about their country, they talked movingly about the challenges they faced.

On this trip, we made plans for an October conference of religious leaders in the capital city of Lilongwe to assess the progress of projects over the past year. We also strengthened our ties with religious, government, NGO, and village-level leaders.

When we returned from Malawi, we were humbled to receive the following email from two students: "We do not take your coming for granted. Though your visit was for a short time, we greatly appreciate [it]. We have started a club on sensitisation of H.I.V and AIDS among Malawian women."

GAIA works primarily with religious organizations on H.I.V./AIDS prevention and care - in most rural areas of Africa, they provide the only infrastructure. Based on a grass-roots development model, we help village leaders set up projects that address needs as they determine them.

For more information, visit www.thegaia.org. Or contact Ellen Schell, RN, Ph.D, at (415) 647-8149, or email ellenschell@earthlink.net.