Five months from now, I will be sitting in a rondoval in the "Mountain Kingdom" of Lesotho reflecting on my first days as a Touching Tiny Lives Fellow.
Yes, I am moving to Lesotho, one of the two small countries inside South Africa, this August!
I'll be living in Mokhotlong - a town of 7,000 that many people say has an almost frontier-like feel - and working with babies and families affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Yes, I am moving to Lesotho, one of the two small countries inside South Africa, this August!
I'll be living in Mokhotlong - a town of 7,000 that many people say has an almost frontier-like feel - and working with babies and families affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Lesotho is at the heart of the HIV/AIDS epidemic:
Lesotho has a 23% HIV infection rate in adults, 56% of which are women;
life expectancy is the lowest in the world, at 42.6 years;
the mortality for those under 5 years old is 132 per 1,000 babies born - the 2nd highest n the world - over half of these deaths are related to HIV;
there are 20,000 people per 1 physician, by far the worst ratio in Africa.
The reality of these facts is largely incomprehensible to so many of us in the industrialized world.
These facts are largely incomprehensible to me.
Soon, I will know the crushing sadness of holding a baby in my arms who is dying of AIDS.
I don't know know how to wrap my mind around this.
I have a feel I will never be able to wrap my mind around this.
Why am I doing this?
Because I hold the following idea firmly in my heart: "When so many die so meaninglessly and so anonymously, the humanity of both the forgotten and the forgetful, the ignorant and the ignored, is compromised."
Living thousands of miles away in our warm suburban homes does not seperate us from these individuals.
I cannot say that the suffering that happens thousands of mile away doesn't affect me.
It still makes my heart ache.
Lesotho has a 23% HIV infection rate in adults, 56% of which are women;
life expectancy is the lowest in the world, at 42.6 years;
the mortality for those under 5 years old is 132 per 1,000 babies born - the 2nd highest n the world - over half of these deaths are related to HIV;
there are 20,000 people per 1 physician, by far the worst ratio in Africa.
The reality of these facts is largely incomprehensible to so many of us in the industrialized world.
These facts are largely incomprehensible to me.
Soon, I will know the crushing sadness of holding a baby in my arms who is dying of AIDS.
I don't know know how to wrap my mind around this.
I have a feel I will never be able to wrap my mind around this.
Why am I doing this?
Because I hold the following idea firmly in my heart: "When so many die so meaninglessly and so anonymously, the humanity of both the forgotten and the forgetful, the ignorant and the ignored, is compromised."
Living thousands of miles away in our warm suburban homes does not seperate us from these individuals.
I cannot say that the suffering that happens thousands of mile away doesn't affect me.
It still makes my heart ache.
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