January 30, 2005

Last Sunday the church bells announcing the end of mass were delayed. The senior priest delivered a forty-five-minute sermon about the Hope Clinic, the need for early testing, the signs and symptoms of aids, the Christian requirement to battle aids discrimination...to 500 congregants. The Roman Catholic Church is the dominant Christian denomination in Lesotho, its influence is powerful. The bishop of Lesotho publicly underwent hiv testing. The RC Church is central to protecting the weathered women with aids, and paving a path of safety to arvs through the mothers—a gateway for their children before they starve to death in the pediatric ward of the hospital. Monday’s clinic was busy, congregants in attendance.

February 17, 2005

Baby girl, face irresistible, sagging safely into her maternal grandmother’s lap. Mother died of aids in November 2004. Personal health record tells all. An oha team member [TM] takes over through an interpreter.

TM: “Does grandmother know why mother of child died?”
Grandmother [GM]: “She went for many consultations and got here.”
TM: “What did she die of ?”
GM: “She had nervous system problems and coughed a lot.”
TM to me: “She is refusing to name the disease.”
TM to interpreter: “Like it or loathe it, tell her that baby has the same problem as the mother.” He tells her.
GM: “Ohhhh.” Drawn out in typical Basotho exclamatory manner.
TM: “Does she see that herself?”
GM: “I have been noticing the similarities myself.”
TM: “We are going to try and help to make the baby not suffer too much.”
GM: “Ohhhh.”
TM: “But she must understand that this is painful for doctor and me because we know that we cannot cure baby.”