The Sisters of Charity

Arm in Arm in Africa: A Reflection from this Week

Jeff and Rita Nohner have volunteered to act as scribe and shutterbug for this journey to South Africa. Jeff is also the designer of the www.ArmInArmInAfrica.org website which we encourage you to visit.

Editor's Note: 2/28 at 3 pm. We have heard from our travelers. There are in Malengeni and were able to send a brief email. They are not yet able to find an internet connection from which to send pictures but will work on it. In the meantime, here is a touching story from an earlier visit this week.

One of the most moving places we visited during the past week was the Missionaries of Charity in Khayelitsha township. The mission is operated by six Sisters of Charity (Mother Teresa Sisters) who serve the needs of more than 70 people. Their simple mission is to provide a place when people cannot care for themselves and when they have no where else to go. Some residents come directly from the hospitals once acute care is needed. A few are brought by families who can no longer deal with the severity of their medical issues or ongoing daily support needs. The Charity location includes several buildings filled with beds, cribs and shared spaces. Men, women and children live in separate wards and are treated by a small staff working with the Sisters. While there has been an increase in the number of people coming to them in the final stages of AIDS, the home also has provided long-term care. Several of the residents are bed-ridden or in wheel chairs. There are a number of mentally challenged individuals in each of the wards.

A resident with Arbye Oberg

We were lucky to have met and interacted with almost everyone in the mission. And the residents felt that way meeting us, especially Arbye Oberg, another person making her first trip to South Africa who seems to have a spark of joy that touches everyone she meets. In this place, it may have been a while since they’ve had someone to give them reason to smile, so Arbye is much welcomed by everyone.

In the men’s ward we met Jasper, an aging white South African with a long white beard. He was very proud to have played Father Christmas for the center last year, and was quick to pull out his photos to show us. Tears filled my eyes as I saw in him the image and spirit of my late father. Another man named Johan laid quietly on a bed during our visit, thin and weak as AIDS drains the energy from his failing body. Thousands of miles from Minnesota, his face reminded us of those we know who have also passed through the final stages of the disease. We spent some time with a young artist named George from Zimbabwe, now paralyzed. He was shot and robbed while selling his wire art - the tragic reminder that poverty forces people to attack the very beauty they hope to retain.

Women of all ages welcomed us to the next ward. Many were mothers, now separated from their families. We met a young woman with AIDS, suffering partial blindness, whose face was illuminated by her wonderful smile. Like nearly everyone we interacted with, she reflected the sense of calm and warmth that has amazed each of us on this journey. We are humbled by the strength people show as they face the daily challenges of life and death. Where people in the States may complain about the length of their commute or the rising price of gas, these women were thankful just to have a roof over their head and a cup of stew each day.

The service provided by the Sisters of Charity is more than most people in this country can hope to receive. The greatest majority of HIV and AIDS patients have no treatment, unless you define it as receiving a daily meal and vitamins which are intended to bolster the immune system. Very few get even that. Treatment for the epidemic is not recognized by the government. Anti-retroviral medications are available for less than 10% of the known HIV/AIDS population, the majority of those medications distributed in the private medical system. Even preventative measures which are known to be very effective, such as treatment during birth that prevents the disease spreading to unborn children, is not endorsed.

While at the Missionaries of Charity, Pat Murphy saw a beautiful baby lying on a bed next to her mother. She eagerly approached the mother, asking to hold the child and they began to exchange smiles. The baby was cooing happily, as any 4-month old child does, blissfully unaware that both she and her mother were HIV positive. They played together for about 10 minutes before it was time for us to go. As she laid the child down and turned to leave, one of the workers at the center came up to Pat and said that the mother has asked if Pat would take her daughter with as we left. She explained that, "the mother believes the baby has a better chance with you in your country."

Pat Murphy with baby and mom

That moment made it clear to us that the people of South Africa have an understanding of the severity of their environment, even though they may not seem to acknowledge it. As Pat said, "it was the saddest and most hopeless and most loving question ever asked of me… that this HIV mother was asking me, a complete stranger, to take her 4-month old HIV daughter with me to America so she might have a better home there. What love this mom has for her child - that she has to be willing to give her child away for a possibility at a better life." The people here are sacrificing a great deal for their communities, brothers, sisters and children. In some cases, the ultimate sacrifice.

We could not take the child with, of course. But we did take the memory of the baby cooing in her mother’s arms as we left the Sisters of Charity. Now, many more of us had tears in our eyes.