Betty Mutere
Betty is former TICH student and her field research studied the impact of HIV/AIDS on grandmothers who take over the care of their grandchildren. Betty has set up a foundation called Heaventrax, next door to TICH. She lives in the two story building and runs her program from there. Betty's primary research, gathered mostly through interviews, found that grandmothers are overburdened physically and emotionally when taking in their granchildren after their own children have died from AIDS. Many of the women are unskilled and have no work exerience. So Betty has a component for vocational training in her program. The orphans as well receive education and training, something their grandmother's cannot provide. The most stressed are women living on less than $1USD/day. Stress causes weakened immune systems, which causes suspectibility to illnesses such as diarrhea and malaria.
'Last week,' Betty says, 'a grandmother in my program lost her last son. He had eight children who will now live with their grandmother. She is already caring for her other 30 grandchildren.' There is no way one woman/person can provide food, education, medical care, shoe and clothes for 38 children. Perhaps enough love, but not enough of the basics. So Betty is stepping in to provide food and, if necessary, clean water until the situation improves.
Dorene, another graudate of TICH, stopped by my office this morning asking about our upcoming scientific conference. She'd like to present her study on the psycho-social needs of orphans. There are 500,000 orphans in Kenya. Dorene said every child she interviewed cried at some point during their discussion. Even orphans who are cared for by relatives are suffering from lack of love and emotional support. They may have food and a bed, but are often treated as unequal to other children in the family. Perhaps they clean and do chores while the other children just sit. Dorene told me about two sisters, 9 and 11 years old, who are living in their father's house, being cared for by their aunt and uncle. But the girls sleep on the floor while their uncle takes their father's bed; the house and bed they have inherited from their dead parents. Meanwhile, their cousins bathe with soap while the orphans do not. Dorene is now an advocate of counseling for these girls and other orphans growing up without the love of parents.
Yesterday, as I watched the street boys at the matato station, they fought playfully over an empty plastic bottle. A dirty, empty plastic bottle, yet it was highly valued by these boys. Once their tussle was over, the boys walked away and I noticed one had a malformed hip, so that his a gait was uneven, pushing his spine out of alignment. He walked on black, hot asphalt in 98 degree weather without shoes. These images rip my heart out and I must do something. Don't cry, I think, just act. I'm looking to Betty and Dorene, with their research results and recommendations, for guidance on how to directly contribute to these amazing children. Even in their rags, filthy, their eyes are always bright and they're quick to run and play. Beginning to help shouldn't be too difficult because one of those neglected orphans, Paul, lives in my own yard!
'Last week,' Betty says, 'a grandmother in my program lost her last son. He had eight children who will now live with their grandmother. She is already caring for her other 30 grandchildren.' There is no way one woman/person can provide food, education, medical care, shoe and clothes for 38 children. Perhaps enough love, but not enough of the basics. So Betty is stepping in to provide food and, if necessary, clean water until the situation improves.
Dorene, another graudate of TICH, stopped by my office this morning asking about our upcoming scientific conference. She'd like to present her study on the psycho-social needs of orphans. There are 500,000 orphans in Kenya. Dorene said every child she interviewed cried at some point during their discussion. Even orphans who are cared for by relatives are suffering from lack of love and emotional support. They may have food and a bed, but are often treated as unequal to other children in the family. Perhaps they clean and do chores while the other children just sit. Dorene told me about two sisters, 9 and 11 years old, who are living in their father's house, being cared for by their aunt and uncle. But the girls sleep on the floor while their uncle takes their father's bed; the house and bed they have inherited from their dead parents. Meanwhile, their cousins bathe with soap while the orphans do not. Dorene is now an advocate of counseling for these girls and other orphans growing up without the love of parents.
Yesterday, as I watched the street boys at the matato station, they fought playfully over an empty plastic bottle. A dirty, empty plastic bottle, yet it was highly valued by these boys. Once their tussle was over, the boys walked away and I noticed one had a malformed hip, so that his a gait was uneven, pushing his spine out of alignment. He walked on black, hot asphalt in 98 degree weather without shoes. These images rip my heart out and I must do something. Don't cry, I think, just act. I'm looking to Betty and Dorene, with their research results and recommendations, for guidance on how to directly contribute to these amazing children. Even in their rags, filthy, their eyes are always bright and they're quick to run and play. Beginning to help shouldn't be too difficult because one of those neglected orphans, Paul, lives in my own yard!
posted by Cindi at 12:45 AM
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