African WIND
Chapter4
FOR THE INTERNATIONAL AIDS DAY
April, 2006…I landed to the Republic of Malawi in Africa.
It was to make urgent supports for AIDS patients & so-called “AIDS orphans” plus research of the HIV state in Africa as African JAG Project, the charity project I have officially launched this year. Malawi’s capitol city, Lilongwe, was more of a cozy country-side of Africa with optimistic atmosphere, unlike Nairobi & Johannesburg with skyscrapers & chaotically-jammed streets.
The reason why I flew to Malawi in the first place was because I heard a news in the fall of 2005 that the country was in a terrible state, due to the serious draught from the previous year, people didn’t have anything to eat, and on top of that, AIDS infection was rapidly increasing amongst the working people from age 25 to 45, thus children are havng no choice but to quit their schools and work in the farm instead.
And true enough, the realities of Malawi that I saw was far too severe and unimaginable from the optimistic atmosphere & smiles of the people in its capitol city of Lilongwe. From the information I achieved from the Malawi government & cab driver Maccy (later he begins to help & assist us on our activities), I drove through the country for a week. Approximately 3,000km in distance.
【THE TRUE STATE OF AIDS】I gave it a good thought and decided to place the photos of AIDS patients at Stage4. Because I want everyone to know that this is something that’s happening on the same planet, right now…. You may not be able to keep your eye onto these photos. But this is their reality. The left photo has been taken in a hospital. She wasn’t in bed. She was laid on the concrete floor with just a towel underneath her. There are only 60 hospitals in Malawi. There are 30 clinics run by carious NGOs, but still, total of only 90 hospitals, so people living far off have to travel like 300km to get to any hospital. Current government did bettered the situation by providing free AIDS medication at national hospitals. But the poor class people don’t even have a transportation fee to get to any hospital. In addition to that, due to lack of food by the draught, the rate of AIDS progression increased. For people who are unable to get proper nutrition or medication, the only thing that waits for them is “death.”
The lady on the right photo is the first Stage4 AIDS patient I met. The reason why her stomach is swollen is not that she is pregnant. It’s due to ascites. She lot her husband with AIDS 2 years ago, had 3 children with her. Had no money, and obviously had no food. What was placed beside her was brown drinking water. There literally was nothing inside her house. She was also laid on the concrete floor with only a straw mat underneath her, without any underwear either. She didn’t have the transportation fee to the hospital which was about 70yen (US$0.70). An unimaginable reality existed there.
In November this year, I re-visited her. The doctor who saw the picture I took of her in April was telling me it’s too late to do anything at that point. But I was hoping, believing that she will still be alive. I really thought I will be meeting her again. …but she wasn’t there any more.
The principal of the orphanage home nearby her house told me what had happened. With the small amount of money we gave her for her transportation fee to the hospital back in April, she did go to the hospital. She stayed in the hospital for 3 weeks, and came back home when her condition recovered a little, but after 4 days at home, she suddenly was in a real bad condition and went back to the hospital again. At the end, she suffered from Malaria & pneumonia at the same time, and died in the hospital at the end of July.
I wonder what her life was like…. I couldn’t stop the tears to fall from my eyes.
【INCREASING ORPHANS】Malawi was the first country I encountered with so many orphans without any war that normally causes such situation. Every area is filled with orphans. At an orphanage home in Blantyre, 120 children where placed in 225 sqft rooms. Half of them were so-called “AIDS orphans.” Some of them were HIV positives themselves, being infected through their mothers’ wombs. The principal of this orphanage home has 2 other orphanage homes, looking after total of 300 children. Children from 1-6 years old. We had been told that this orphanage home is mainly run by donations, being unable to achieve much support from the government. The orphanage home in Lilongwe also had about 100 children to look after. They didn’t have any support from the government, and is totally run by donations and help from volunteers from the neighborhood.
With the current state of the disease, the number of orphans can only increase. Almost all of the AIDS patients that I met have already lost their husbands/wives. When they lost their lives as well, their children will be left on their own. All orphanage homes are more than full, and no light of hope for better future either. It is not easy for the people in this country that live on US$1 per day to look after orphans.
The principal of the orphanage home was extremely worried about the future of the children, looking sorrowful. If the situation continues, street children will fill the streets, and eventually increase the rate of children becoming gangsters as well.
Right now, for orphanage homes in Malawi, it is difficult even to secure food, clothes, and housing for the children.
【WHAT WE CAN DO…】There is a village on the shore of Lake Malawi called Chembe which has population of 10,000 people. It is a village that 50% of the population is said to be HIV positive. In this village, there is a private hospital run by Irish NGO. Although it costs 50 yen (approx. US$0.50) to see a doctor, which is too expensive for the poor people (living costs per day in Malawi is approx. US$1.00). In order to get to the national hospital, which is their alternative, they need to travel 90km and costs 800 yen (approx. US$8.00) for transportation. To get to the facility offering blood tests, need to travel 20km & pay 300 yen (approx. US$3.00) for transportation. Definitely not something that poor people could afford. I learned of such situation upon my April visit.
So I took the donations we received from Harajuku’s street brand Rebirth, visual collective ZERO-SAN, Es.U.Es, Natur, and other individuals based in Japan, and made 2800 free hospital coupons, and gave them to the aforementioned private clinic to be given to the people in need of doctors. In addition to that, we made 200 free transport coupons to the hospital to get blood test, plus another 200 free transport coupons for patients in bad conditions to go to the national hospital, and also gave it to the clinic to be distributed. If we simply give a sum of money to the people, they may use it for other things because they are in extreme poverty, lacking of everything. But if we change the shape into something like coupons, we thought we could avoid such situation. Coupons must have doctor’s signature in order for it to be valid. Because what they really need to do before anything is to go to the hospital. Aside from the coupons, to the patients in late stages who cooperated to our research & interviews, we gave each of them 2 kg of powdered maize, bottles of orange juice, sugar, box of biscuits, etc as well as the transportation fee for them to go to the hospital directly. We also donated a little to the orphanage home to buy food for the children. …these are about & only things we could do as of now, but hopefully everyone around the globe would unite hand in hand so that more people would be released from the horrible situations they are in….
【AFRTERWORDS】African children are filled with energy. No matter how poor they are, no matter how difficult a situation they are placed in, they all help each other. That’s why every place is filled with smiles. They even have adults that scolds them where they should be scold.
Back in Japan, what I hear on the news are children killing their parents, parents killing their children, abuses, suicides,…makes my heart sink deep. Hearts of the children living in such state should be much heavier than mine. Materials are overflowing. Everything is there to make anything convenient. But something is lacking. It is true that Africa is filled with problems. But if people are properly educated, protected, and help each other, there could be a light of hope for a better future. Can’t explain it very well, but to me, Japanese people who are having darkness within their hearts seems to be in much worse state than the people in Africa in a way.
Since I started to make visits to Africa, I was actually saved. The problems & situations in Africa aren’t something that can be solved easily. But even within one of the most horrible situations, they were facing front, they now the essentials of what it is to live. To live today to the fullest connects them to tomorrow. Because “death” exists too close to them, they learn the ways to survive. They all should be filled with worries & anxieties, but because they know that they are not alone, I think that they are able to keep trying.
If adults are more open-hearted & show more smiles, I think that the hearts of the children in Japan can be warmed as well.If life gets too hard and painful, it may be a good idea to visit Africa. You would most likely to be infected by the smiles of the African children immediately!!
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