Township Organization Provides for HIV/AIDS Orphans

Michael with Agnes Tom of Baby Haven

A large portion of money and time spent on HIV/AIDS is spent on prevention, which often leaves those with HIV/AIDS to fend for themselves. Children with HIV/AIDS are often left behind because many people believe that they will never survive into their teenage years. One woman fighting against this dangerous belief is Agnes Tom.

Agnes Tom is a South African woman living in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. She lives in Katatura, the township area of the city (an area designated for blacks during the apartheid era). Her organization, Baby Haven, seeks to care for orphans and children in the community as well as to educate the larger community. This is not easily done in the midst of a culture of fear, denial, and ignorance.

Baby Haven was started by a Christian church organization called Gospel Outreach and is carried forward by Mrs. Tom. It originally began because local culture and tradition did not give babies with HIV/AIDS a chance and they were often neglected. Mothers with HIV/AIDS regularly died of the disease within a few months of giving birth, leaving the babies in the hands of the extended family, which was not always willing to take the babies in.

A baby sleeps at Baby Haven

Baby Haven began in 2002, with fifteen babies who were under the age of two years. Within a few months, eleven of them were dead. Over the last few years, Baby Haven has lost only two out of its ten babies, by focusing on what Mrs. Tom calls "positive living". Positive living concentrates on good nutrition for the babies, as well as education for the families in the community with regard to dealing with people who are HIV-positive. Currently, Baby Haven is caring for four babies who are staying at the orphanage and forty-three babies in the community who would otherwise lack sufficient care and nourishment.

According to Mrs. Tom, most of the funding and time committed to HIV/AIDS has been spent on prevention, leaving "piles and piles of little bodies and cemeteries full of fresh, small, unmarked graves." She feels that the major problem regarding babies is not necessarily lack of medication, but lack of good nutrition. Even though the government offers free antiretroviral drugs to individuals who reach a certain level of infection, people often lack the money necessary to sustain healthy diets. This pertains particularly to breast-feeding mothers. The virus is carried through breast milk, making it crucial that mothers with HIV/AIDS do not breast-feed their babies.

A Namibian woman with a sick HIV-positive baby

However, convincing impoverished mothers to buy milk and stop breast-feeding is not practical unless money is being provided them for milk. In order for this to happen, action must be taken by the government or by NGOs. Mrs. Tom made it clear that working through the red tape of bureaucracy to wait for such a policy would only lead to more dead bodies. Both in the township of Katatura and in greater Windhoek, Baby Haven provides the substitute milk for HIV-positive mothers who approach the organization and request its assistance.

Mrs. Tom feels that focusing directly on the health of babies is not the end of the battle. She also aims to educate the community. In the past, when children from Baby Haven played on the street outside of the compound, parents in the neighborhood would not allow their children to play with them. They sheltered their children from what they felt was imminent danger. Mrs. Tom decided to take action by going house to house and appealing to the families. She knew that they were all afraid of the virus because, as she stated, "Every house in this neighborhood has had someone die of HIV/AIDS." Slowly, she convinced her neighbors that their children would be safe playing with the children, and today they play together freely in the street.

Michael with Thando, whose name means love. He is one years, two months old.

Baby Haven also sensitizes the community through biweekly support groups that target three separate demographics: nursing and pregnant mothers, elderly people who are caring for children with HIV/AIDS, and teenagers and young people with HIV/AIDS. The purpose of these support groups is to educate key portions of the community about HIV/AIDS and to provide a forum for people to discuss the troubles that they face while living with HIV/AIDS or while caring for people who suffer from the disease. Since people often fear that they will face certain death along with rejection from their community once they have the virus, the support groups aim to provide assurance that sufferers are not alone and can still lead productive and successful lives.

Like all small organizations, Baby Haven struggles to find proper funding. Fortunately, students from Giessen University in Germany have organized various fundraisers to help support Baby Haven. One ongoing fundraiser involves concerts that highlight Namibian artists. These have occurred in both Namibia and in Germany.

Namibian rappers

When the idea of organizing concerts was first conceived, Namibian musicians were approached and asked if they would perform free of charge. This idea was not readily accepted by the struggling artists. Mrs. Tom decided to bring the musicians to the homes of those with HIV/AIDS to show them who the money would be helping. By the second house all of the musicians were crying and agreeing to perform for free. The musicians are currently planning a Namibian tour in the coming months.

In the coming years, Mrs. Tom plans to develop Baby Haven’s facilities to accommodate more babies. She also hopes to expand her support groups by adding to their numbers and diversifying the types of groups available. Through efforts such as these, she hopes to provide a safe and caring environment that will enable those affected by HIV/AIDS to seek the assistance that her organization can offer.

Mrs. Tom and Baby Haven can be contacted at wasn@iway.com.