ADHERENCE TO TREATMENT AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The Center used to be a home based care and counseling center where people received counseling and testing for HIV. I regret to say that I have only been on two home based care visits due the fact that we can’t fuel our vehicle to make home visits (excuses, excuses). We visited a female client who defaulted from her HIV treatment and was too thin and sick too walk. She had a bed pan and little in a hut that was half way thatched. She did receive food baskets provided by the government but since there is a lot of corruption with food baskets, I speculate that her food was stolen by family members. The other was another defaulter who was in the early stages of the disease.

I respect Botswana’s efforts in providing free TB and HIV treatment to its citizens but without proper adherence these people will develop drug resistance strains. You can’t just throw free drugs to people! A lot of people here in the bush take their drugs at the clinic and once they get home they throw the drugs away due to side effects, lack of food, and lack of understanding on the importance to adherence. Also people can spread drug resistant strains of HIV which is really scary. Care and treatment is not on the priority list of donors which is causing a lot of organizations like ours to close their program due to funding. This is maddening because Botswana has the second highest rate of HIV infection.

A lot of people ask why the rate is so high and the reasons that come to mind are decreased mortality death rates due to life saving free drugs combined with increasing risky sexual behaviors. In ten years Botswana will experience an alarming death toll when the drugs can not extend their lives any further. This is a country with a small population of 1.7 million people and 36% HIV prevalence.

There is a lot of domestic violence in Botswana for reasons that not many people can explain other than it’s just an old practice excepted by the uneducated families. The Bakalanga tribe in my region has the highest rates of domestic violence, also known as “Passion Killing.” Most of the Passion Killings are related to HIV brought on my infidelity. I highly recommend a South African movie called “Yesterday”. It’s a beautiful film and depicts the reality of many families in affected by AIDS in Africa.

CHOBE NATIONAL PARK

A major feature of Chobe National Park is its elephant population. First of all, the Chobe has the largest elephant population in the world. This population covers most of northern Botswana plus northwestern Zimbabwe. The Botswana elephant population is currently estimated at are 120,000.

We camped at Ihaha on the Chobe River for six days. On our way to the camp site on the first day we saw lions eating a wilderbeast, elephans, kudu, chimps, and giraffe. The days were hot, too hot to do anything but sit under a tree and read a book. The afternoons were spent four wheeling around the park seeing animals at our own leisure. Two of the men we were with were former hunters in the Southern African region so they were like an open encyclopedia when it came to animals and their behavior.

BEAUTY CONTEST NOVEMBER 11, 2007

Maitengwe Home Based Care Center works closely with Kabelano Pre-School for Orphans and Vulnerable Children. I’ve been directing most of my attention here since the Center is struggling financially. There are 19 orphans and 29 regular children. The Catholic Church supports 12 orphans through funding from PEPFAR/Catholic Relief Services. They support school fees, shoes, uniforms and tracksuits. However, there is not enough money for school meals and teacher salaries, so we have been doing a lot of fundraising to run the school’s daily activities. Last week we had a talent show for the pre-school girls. The practiced so hard on their cat walk and their individual dance moves.

There are parents who don’t pay school fees so I calculated the amount of over due payments and realized it would solve our financial problems of not being able to pay the teacher salaries and school meals. The teachers and I made a new policy that school fees are due on the 5th of every month. If the child has not paid the fee by the last day of that month then he/she is not allowed to attend school the following month until payment is received. Most of these parents are employed and can afford school fees. We wrote a letter with a list of names to the appropriate person at the district government office for registering them for government assistance for those parents who can't afford school fees. Most of my Peace Corps service has been political: gaining support from local government, writing to the Minister of Local Government and to the Ministry of Health about the situation.