Baby!

Yesterday when we got to the house, we found out that Maria had not come in. Her daughter, who was 9 months pregnant, was in the hospital. Last week, when we first visited Maria’s family, Julie had wanted to try and visit the daughter alone before she went into labour as she is at a high risk for having contracted HIV. One of Maria’s other daughters died in childbirth a few years ago, due to complications of her untreated HIV, and more women die in childbirth in Mozambique than any other country in the world.
Maria’s son is also positive. After going to one public hospital, and then to their home, we found out they were at a hospital in the village. At the hospital, we found Maria and then followed her into a small concrete room with 5 beds crammed together. The room was hot, with each new mom sleeping with her newborn. The delivery room was actually just the room we walked through to get to mom’s room. It had a bed where the mom would deliver and then be moved to the second room. It really doesn’t afford much privacy, as everyone can hear everything that happens. When we walked in, we handed Maria the bag of fruit we brought as a gift and then crowded around the bed where her daughter and new tiny granddaughter were. The baby did not have a name yet, but had a ton of dark curly hair, like all of the other babies in the room. Mom and baby seemed to be doing fine. We held the baby and then prayed for her before we left. It was absolutely amazing witnessing such a sacred and beautiful thing like the first hours of a brand new life in such a simple and undeveloped place. The total miracle of what happens everyday in that room was made even more obvious given the conditions. Julie wanted to return the next day to take them for HIV testing and immediate treatment, if necessary.

Today we picked up Maria, her daughter, and granddaughter and took them to the private clinic, where you pay less than 20 dollars to see the doctor. The AIDS test is a simple blood test that can be done with the results within an hour. There is a lot of stigma here about HIV, and Maria didn’t even want Julie to tell here daughter what the testing was for. In Pemba, all treatment for HIV is free. Thankfully, her daughter gave permission for the test. Her daughter is probably about 16 or 17 years old, and many girls get married and have children much younger than that. While we were waiting, I just prayed that God would spare both of their lives, which would then affect even more lives. HIV is so common here its scary. I can’t imagine thinking ‘my brother and sister have HIV. Maybe their kids do too. They’ll likely die within a few years.’ To watch one member of your family die in childbirth and then to know others in your family have it too.

I am reading a book on the AIDS crisis right now too. One statement from this book that has stayed with me is that AIDS turns all life forces to death. The primary forces of life- the blood in the our veins, sex, childbirth and breastfeeding- are also the forces that HIV utilizes to spread death. It’s hard to imagine, looking at a tiny face, fresh to the world, that AIDS could already be attacking her little body.

Yeah! Thankfully the results came back negative for both this mom and baby today. Thank you God!