Casestudy: Maureen Mwape

Women are moved by the situation, so they care for people

Maureen is sixty. She had three children but they have all died. She now cares for her grandchildren. ‘Community life can be very hard because there are so many orphans, no parents and, at times, there is no food. Sometimes the children have to work for people in order to get fed'. Sometimes Maureen cooks a lot of food and invites the children from the area to come and eat.

She decided to go for VCT because of her husband's lifestyle. He was always moving around, meeting different people and finally he left Maureen to live with another woman in Ndola. When she learned she was positive, she prayed. She goes for CD4 count every three months and is not yet on medication because her CD4 count is still quite high. She is not in touch with her former husband anymore so she does not know his status.

Maureen does small scale farming in her village and sometimes she does some piece work. She lives with her three grandchildren, all of whom attend school, since it is free although she has to provide their books and bags, etc.

Maureen has not experienced stigma in her family or community. People have approached her for advice and she tells them about personal hygiene and eating correctly. She says that within her family and community, they sit together and talk about the issues, and teach each other how to stay healthy. She has educated her grandchildren on how to do the farming so that they can provide for themselves in case she becomes ill.

Maureen insists that programmes that are meant for those with HIV do not reach village level. They get to organisations or clinics but there is insufficient sharing with the communities. Women are the most vulnerable as they are the ones who always care. Men would rather just leave. Women are moved by the situation, so they care for people.

For Maureen, village voices need to be heard. In terms of access to necessities, they get paid or work for food or soap. Access to these things is not easy for her and work is hard. People come from town and need someone to weed their garden, so she weeds and then buys shoes or clothes for her grandchildren.

She grows cassava, maize and sweet potatoes, groundnuts and beans for the family. They keep the seeds so they can grow them the following year. During the rainy season they would go into the field at 06:00 until 10:00 – that is the busiest season.