Evelyn and Pearl, AFRIWEB staff members

AFRIWEB counseling team outside their office in Ho, Ghana

In the small pink room of AFRIWEB's Care and Counseling Unit, Evelyn and Pearl sit together and wait for people living with HIV/AIDS to visit them. Most days, about five people stop by. Some arrive to exchange affectionate greetings after doing their shopping at the Ho Central Market, which is just down the road. Some arrive frantic from the hospital with an HIV-positive test result. It is the job of Evelyn and Pearl to counsel everyone that walks in about how they can continue to live their lives with HIV/AIDS.

When Pearl arrived at the AFRIWEB Foundation, she weighed 40 kilograms. After receiving a positive test result, she suffered through the emotional anguish of not having any support from the people around her; even her family members rejected her. The hurt in her face is transparent as she explains, "I thought I was going to die the next day." Victor Ntumi recalled that she arrived in his office two years prior when he had just received his first training as a counselor: "I explained to her that she could continue living, what foods she should eat to feel better, and then I talked to her family." Today, the transformation is unmistakable. Pearl is 80 kilograms and radiates positivity. "I am so much better now. People that knew me then and see me today do not believe that it is the same person." Pearl is giving all of her clients hope for their future through her own example. She is showing them that someone can get better after contracting the disease. As an elderly woman walked in to the office to collect her weekly food rations, Pearl playfully teased her about gaining so much weight since the week before.

Evelyn shares Pearl's enthusiasm for helping people understand the disease they have contracted. She also understands the social pressures of contracting HIV/AIDS in her community. In rural areas, many people still don't understand or accept the disease. She admitted, "I still haven't told my family that I am positive. The stigma is too much. Only a few of them know." Evelyn does not seem discouraged by the hurdles that she and Evelyn are facing as counselors and as people living with HIV/AIDS. In fact, she seems optimistic about the growing community of people that constitute her support system. "At the trainings that we have been to, I was able to meet other counselors and to share our experiences. Now they call me all the time."

Pearl, Victor, and Evelyn (left to right) in the AFRIWEB Care and Counseling Office

Both women believe that many families they encounter through their work need extensive counseling from the team before they will be able to accept family members who are living with HIV/AIDS. One client came from a town called Aflao, which is about 100 kilometers away from the office in Ho. The woman arrived in the office having no other place to go. Evelyn recalled, "Her mother had asked her to leave. If this woman drank from a cup, the mother would not drink from the same cup again." Evelyn and Pearl stayed for three nights with the woman, sleeping on the office floor. After bringing all their resources to bear, they were eventually able to convince the mother to accept her daughter back into the house. "She just visited yesterday to get her food rations, she is doing very well now," Evelyn says with pride.

Most of the clients who come to see Pearl and Evelyn are poor. Many come from surrounding villages and have trouble paying the transport costs for the visit. Most cannot afford to buy the medications that they need to stay healthy. AFRIWEB and its sponsors in the community do what they can for these clients. Every week, numerous clients stop by the office to receive their food rations, which consist of 2½ cups of wheat, 6 cups of flour, and 2 liters of cooking oil—all provided by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

Supporters of the work that Evelyn, Pearl, and Victor are doing also arrive at the office to discover how they can offer assistance. Dr. Nfodwo, from the local branch of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana, stopped by to donate food items. He added, "The church wants to offer women opportunities to participate in training programs. For example, our new snail rearing project can encourage women to make money, so that they can pay for their medications." Evelyn responded that all of their female clients would be interested. (Pearl, Victor and Evelyn Photograph)

Even with all the support that AFRIWEB and its sponsors are able to provide, the stark reality remains that a client's poverty is likely to hasten an early death. Only ten out of the one hundred clients who are able to regularly visit the center can afford to pay for the anti-retroviral medications, liver function testing and traditional herbal medicines that will help them to stay healthy. "If the clients cannot afford medications, all we can offer them is moral and social support. When people begin to feel happier, we can say that this was enough," Victor stated.

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