Infant death syndrome South African-style

Believe it or not, South Africa is right now faced with a pandemic as devastating as any other in history.

Additionally, HIV/AIDS in South Africa is exacerbated by poverty. Did you know that 61% of children here live in poverty ?

In 1998, the infant mortality rate was 45 per 1,000 (one of the highest in the world). More than 50% of children have no birth certificate 15.5%, or 1.6 million children (who are of school-going age) are out of school. One out of every eight girls (12.5%) is forced out of school due to pregnancy. South Africa has the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world. In the year 2000, 19.94% of the population was infected with HIV/AIDS. In the year 2000, one person was infected every 45 seconds. One person died every two minutes.

September 11 every day

About 5,000 people were killed in the terrorist attack on the USA on September 11 last year (2001) - more than 5,000 people die of AIDS in South Africa every single day - and their deaths go unnoticed and unremembered by the world. By 2010, orphans will comprise 9-12% of the total population of South Africa.

While HIV/AIDS is the subject of much talk, little is being done to alleviate the acute suffering of infected children. Most often, children are the first within a family to present with symptoms of full-blown AIDS and, as a result of the secrecy and stigma attached to this disease, are hidden away for nobody to see. The infants are, thus, the helpless casualties of this pandemic and are left to die in circumstances of neglect and severe deprivation. In most cases their growth and normal physical development is stunted. Many cannot walk. They suffer from frequent chest infections and tuberculosis. Many have severe oral thrush that sometimes makes its way down the whole of their digestive tracts. They get horrible sores on their bodies, suffer with septic ears that emit a dreadful odour, have frequent, ongoing bouts of diarrhoea and vomiting and are plagued with swollen glands, distended abdomens, night sweats and a cancer known as karposi sarcoma.

Abandoned families

This is where Morning Star Children's Centre comes in. In the centre of the Free State Goldfields region of South Africa is the city of Welkom. Until recently this was a bustling mining town but the falling gold price and outworked gold-bearing reefs have meant that many mines have drastically scaled down their operations. This has resulted in multiple job losses. Most of the men who have been retrenched were migrant workers who returned to their homes leaving behind them children and their mothers who no longer have any financial support. What also remains is AIDS, which has infected and continues to affect a very large proportion of the community. It is estimated that the unemployment rate in the goldfields is over 60%.

Morning Star Children's Centre is a day care facility for babies and young children who are infected with HIV/AIDS. It opened its doors for the first time on January 24 2000 to admit its first eight children. Since then it has grown at a phenomenal rate and from those initial eight now has more than 50 children on register. The aim is to provide a well-run day care facility for small children and offer them optimum care, supervision and mental stimulation. The children targeted all come from formally-disadvantaged backgrounds and live in the surrounding townships and informal settlements of Thabong and Kutlwanong. They are, in most instances, undernourished and inadequately clothed. Many live in tin shacks and plastic houses with no running water and toilet facilities.

They are fetched from their homes in our Volkswagen minibus each morning and brought to Morning Star where nutritious meals are provided, adequate medication administered and stimulating activities offered. A pre-school programme is given to the older children each morning while the babies are being bathed and fed. Plenty of time is allowed for playing, resting and the learning of new skills, and there is always time to love and be loved by the staff and the volunteers present each weekday.

Other programmes we're involved in include:

Food parcels

Each month a fairly substantial grocery parcel is sent out to an ever-increasing number of impoverished families. Up to 50 families are benefiting from these at present. For many, this is often the only food they have for the entire month.

Support meetings

Once a month the mothers, grandmothers and other guardians of our children converge on our Centre for their monthly Support Group Meeting. These have proved invaluable and set the stage for education on matters relating to HIV/AIDS and the proper care of small children. They also provide our women the opportunity to get to know one another, dispense with all their masks and openly talk about their HIV status and become supportive of each other in their home environments.

Food garden

Besides all this, we have invested time and money into establishing a Food Garden (vegetable garden) at our premises. This has proven highly beneficial, providing our children and their families with ongoing fresh produce.

'Tshedisanang'

Although caring for little children remains Morning Star's primary goal, we have increasingly been made aware of the plight of their carers/families as well. With this in mind, we have broadened our services to address the immense poverty problem that exists in the Free State Goldfields area, and, some months ago, with the aid of a major South African company, were able to initiate an Income Generating Project called Tshedisanang‰ (which, in Sotho, means to comfort, to console). Most of the women working on this program are infected/affected by HIV/AIDS themselves, and all come from poor backgrounds.

All underwent basic training in skills relating to papermaking and embroidery and, as they continue to meet on a daily basis, their new-found talents are being broadened and perfected in many diverse ways. The quality of their home made paper is exceptional and their embroidery skills have developed considerably. Their finished products are finding a ready market in the community and already sales are taking place in several overseas countries as well. Their products include photo albums, journals, cards and envelopes, embroidered waistcoats, T-shirts, wall hangings, Bible covers, bags, place mats and satchels.

Our combi (vehicle) is fast becoming a liability and is spending more and more time at the garage undergoing urgent repairs. When this happens, we have to close our Centre down because we have no alternative way of getting our children to Morning Star. We are urgently praying for a small bus now and trust our Lord to supply our need in due course.

Sad deaths

Sadly, some of our children do die and we have lost 25 of our little ones over the past months. This is never easy but mostly, the dying child is suffering greatly and for us it's a blessed relief and answer to prayer when our God takes them home. Many will die before reaching school-going age and very few will still be around to usher in their teens. They die at different ages; depending upon how ill they are at birth and how neglected, starved and deprived they are in their homes. Our youngest was but five months old and our eldest, 12 years of age. Hospitals are full to overflowing - with more than 90% of their patients dying of AIDS. More than 50 graves are being dug in just one of our surrounding cemeteries each week and all are being filled every Saturday. Many grandparents, living off just a meagre old age pension, have buried more than one of their own children and are now left to care for several grandchildren. And because of the immense stigma attached to this killer disease, no one talks openly of the cause of death. All die of pneumonia or tuberculosis, even cancer - but never AIDS.

We can't stop the dying

Our greatest desire is to give as many children as possible the opportunity to reach a measure of their full potential before their untimely deaths. We can't stop the dying, but we can alleviate the suffering. We can possibly prolong their lives and let them experience a quality of living that they would otherwise never have known.

The plight of children affected by HIV/AIDS is immense and the tragedy of children suffering with AIDS even greater. They become violently ill be-cause of AIDS, die horrible deaths be-cause of AIDS and are being orphaned and abandoned because of AIDS.

Children are at the mercy of caregivers, the community, the institutions of society, law and policy makers. Children are vulnerable, dependent and lack the ability to sufficiently comprehend what is happening to them. The younger the child, the fewer the powers they have to influence, let alone determine their circumstances.

And, this is where we, as Christians, need to step in and fill the gap. So many children are set to become homeless, parentless and uncared for. Child-headed families will be the norm and the illiteracy level accentuated as scholars are forced to abandon their education to take over the running of their homes.

Who will cherish them and nurture them? If not God's people themselves, then who?

Four ways to help us

Please pray for our children and our work, make a once-off donation, pledge a regular monthly figure, or Adopt-a-Child and help take care of his/her needs with the support of £20 pounds per month. In Luke 9.48 it is written: 'Whoever welcomes this little child in my name, welcomes me: and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.'

Contact details: Morning Star Children's Centre, PO Box 2459, Welkom 9460, Free State, South Africa. Tel. 027 57 352-5176, fax 027 57 357-2141, email morningstar@wol.co.za