Abnormal Normal

Orphans in Esitjeni watching their peers enact an anti-HIV transmission play

Emailed by Tamsin Smith from Swaziland
We spent the morning with Derek von Wissell, Director of NERCHA, the entity responsible for implementing Swaziland’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis and administering the (RED) Global Fund-financed programs on the ground. Derek had just finished a comprehensive report on big picture data sets and key economic, social and health indicators. There is no question that Swaziland’s AIDS epidemic is a humanitarian disaster. Unlike short-term, sudden emergencies brought on by natural disasters like earthquakes, the HIV/AIDS picture in Swaziland looks more like a slow on-set emergency that’s systematically reduced resources and human capacity for planning and response. Because of the high number of deaths due to AIDS, a generation is vanishing, leaving behind orphans and escalating poverty.

This is the trend that (RED) and the Global Fund are trying to break in partnership with Derek and others committed to beat back suffering and loss. They are literally fighting to change the perception of a population in which death at age 30 or so is the expectation, rather than the exception. When the abnormal becomes normal, hope is a tall order. And this is what’s so striking about the leadership of many of the individuals with whom we have met. They are warriors for the will to live, trying to seed it everywhere they go and in every person they meet.

If children are our future then it’s right that NERCHA puts such an emphasis on orphan care. There are an estimated 130,000 orphans and vulnerable children in Swaziland – roughly 31 percent of all kids. In the United States, that would net out to 18.7 million kids; in the United Kingdom, 3.3 million. Imagine the mobilization needed to address a crisis of that scale. In Swaziland, they are doing it the best way they know how, relying on surviving relatives and strong underlying social structures… the Granny network. We went back to the Esitjeni, where Inkhosikati greeted us again and this trip welcomed us inside the Big Tent. The children under her care looked healthier and many recognizable smiles seemed brighter and stronger than on our last visit. It’s clear from her comments and from their faces that Global Fund monies are making a material difference. She is one of the warriors battling to make “normal” feel as comforting as possible in circumstances that are anything but. Another of Swaziland’s amazing women.