AIDS

We have 2 spots open at TLC. Ideally, these spots belong to children on our waiting list, but these mysterious children have never arrived and their spots are potentially up for grabs by the next child down on the list. One of the next spots would potentially go to a little girl who is HIV positive. The mother was open about the girl's status and the head teacher was open about things we need to put in place to ensure the health and safety of ALL of the children....INCLUDING this little girl.

Nomalonga explained that SHE had no personal problems with the little girl coming. And she would welcome her into her class. However, this girl would be in a different class and Nomalonga wanted to speak to the teacher to make sure things were handled properly. Nomalonga wanted to speak with Tony (the director of TLC) and the pastor to make sure there weren’t any other steps we needed to take to make sure this situation would be handled appropriately. We wanted to make sure the teachers were trained with basic first aid precautions. We also wanted to make sure they knew to alert the mother if they noticed any illnesses (measles, chicken pox, etc) that may affect her child more severely because of a weakened immune system.

Apparently we took to long to get back to the mother. She has reported the Day Care to Social Services and claims that we will not accept her daughter because she has HIV. This is a sad turn of events since we are willing to accept her child and trying to put safe guards into place to protect ALL the children (including this one). Hopefully a meeting with Social Services will clear up this matter.

I’m surprised that this is even an issue. I guess I come from the US where ALL children are accepted into public school. And you rarely know their HIV status. And even if you did know, it wouldn’t matter. Certain precautions are taken with ALL children. These precautions are taken for the safety of each and every child and for the safety of the teacher. Knowing a child's status would never change the way I view that child or treat that child. I’m saddened that so many people are uninformed and scared of this disease. Typical childhood behaviors will not spread this disease. Sharing food, drinks, toys and hugs will not harm anyone. And any open sores or bleeding should be handled appropriately with gloves no matter who the child is or what their HIV status is.

I hope that after this miscommunication the Day Care will have a policy in effect that makes it clear how to address this situation in the future. Pray that this mother will realize that we are not rejecting her child, but trying to put safe guards into place that will protect her child and all of the other children. Pray that this problem only strengthen our resolve to accept and love ALL children. Pray that this problem will be resolved and that there be no bitterness or anger between the mother and the church. Pray that the community does not shun this little girl now that they are aware of her HIV status. We live in a community that is often ill informed or scared of this disease and I don’t want ignorance to negatively affect this little girl.

I can’t begin to tell you how HIV/AIDS affects this community. I read a statistic that said over 50% of the children in South Africa who are now in their teen years already have or will have HIV/AIDS. HALF of a generation will be lost to this disease!! Pray for better education, better medication and better motivation to prevent this disease from spreading.