Hope

About two months ago 11-year-old Hope* came to live at Bezer Home. Her parents had both died of AIDS as well as her twin sister. She had been living in the village with a woman who was taking care of many children. Some youth corpers took it upon themselves to take care of her feeding. When one set of corpers would finish their term in the village, they would ask the next batch of corpers to help feed the little girl. Eventually they got to know about Mashiah Foundation and brought Hope to Bezer Home.

Hope appeared to be a very withdrawn child when she first arrived, but now she has begun to smile more freely and to move closer to people. She's quite small; heightwise she is between my 4 & 6 year-olds. Her stomach is a bit distended, probably from malnutrition.

Today we finally had success in getting Hope enrolled for anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). These are the drugs that will supress the HIV virus and help to prolong her life. One of our staff members had to attend four sessions on drug adherence at the hospital before they would release the drugs. The drugs on the picnic table in the photo must be taken faithfully, every day at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Hope will finish these drugs in one month and then we will take her back to collect another month's worth.

* Name has been changed.