WORLD AIDS DAY
Helping Hiv-positive children
THERE’S a gentle grace and serenity about Pemla Mtshali that suggests she has a greater wisdom and understanding about life than most people. It’s a calmness that belies her years and is far removed from the fragile background she remembers as a child.
She will tell you with an enigmatic smile that she is not sure how she has got to where she is today, spearheading a dynamic youth-based programme focusing on HIV prevention and treatment servicing vulnerable communities in KZN.
South Africa has the biggest antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programme in the world. Yet according to the latest UNAIDS Report, there are 320 000 Hiv-positive children and young people in South Africa. Only 55% of these children have been tested and are currently on treatment. Less than 30% of children and young people in South Africa are able to demonstrate a sound knowledge of the disease and have ever been tested or received their results.
Against this troubling background Mtshali’s life story is quite remarkable.
“I come from one of those poorest of the poor places in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, where ignorance about health issues is a given. I never dreamt that I would get anywhere in life. My mother was HIV positive so needed a lot of care. At 17 you need to ask your mum a lot of questions, but she was too ill, so I had to make my own decisions, which weren’t always the right ones.”
She dreamt of being a nurse, but leaving school early she had few choices, accepting a cleaning job at the Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust (HACT) where her mother had been a patient.
“I was determined to be the best cleaner they had ever had,” she says with a smile that lights up her face.
Her enthusiasm for the lowliest of jobs so impressed the staff that she was soon elevated to the centre’s hospice kitchen where she learnt to cook for the patients.
“I loved what I was doing,” says Mtshali. “I thought I was the luckiest person in the world and that cooking would be my best job.”
But there were other things in store for her. Her next role was as an educator and facilitator for the centre, working with kids affected by HIV, introducing funded life skills programmes into the valley’s primary schools.
“I learnt so much. When I was at school, there were no programmes to help children choose their paths, no HIV education, no sport, no career guidance. Now I had a chance to make a difference – that was so special. Listening
to a child talk about sensitive things, about their bodies, their families, their dreams and fears was such a privilege.”
However, when the classroom skills programme was replaced with an outdoor, sports-related programme Mtshali wasn’t sure if she still had a job. “It’s a good thing that I am a positive person,” she says. “When that door closed, I was sure that another would open.”
It did. That new opening was the Grassroots Soccer Project, an Hiv-education model introduced in many parts of the world that combines the appeal of soccer with addressing the gap in children and young people’s health provision.
“In a way I perhaps have a better understanding of the challenges so many young people face because I have been there myself. I know what it’s like not to have a mum to talk to, no water and electricity and a scarcity of food. It’s tough, really tough. So when children as young as 10 years old tell you they are frightened of the future, you know that something urgent needs to be done.”
For the first time, says Mtshali, the project incorporates HACT’S Goals4life programme, which takes HIV awareness to a whole new level.
“Getting it up and running is so much more than a job, it’s a way of life. I’m so thrilled to be part of it and to see young children embracing these messages. It’s like a whole lot of lights being switched on.”
Six primary schools in the valley are involved with 15 pupils from each school taking part in a 10-week afterschool soccer training and life-skills programme.
“At the end of each programme we have a celebratory one-day soccer derby and the participants are presented with graduation certificates. As the project grows and we get more funding we will be adding more schools.”
Those are the mechanics, but as Mtshali points out, the one-to-one interaction between specially trained coaches and children is where the real value lies.
“In school, teachers are often too busy to listen to the concerns of children and the day-to-day challenges they face, including gender violence, and health-related issues. In this outdoor environment, once trust is built up, the children feel safe to disclose what is troubling them. It makes a big difference to be able to share problems. They realise that they are not alone.”
It is the gritty life lessons learnt as a child growing up, she says, that have given her a passion to make things better for young kids surrounded by poverty and the risk of disease. It’s a generic story that she believes is told too often, not only in KZN but throughout the country.
“This is about investment in a new generation of young people with knowledge and skills to take charge of their lives. It’s brilliant. Let’s hope it grows into something big in South Africa. It works. I’ve seen it work. The look in children’s faces tells you that what they need most is hope. They need to know that HIV can be beaten if they learn the life skills that will secure a better future.” lizclarke4@gmail.com
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