Day One in Jo'burg

After 29 hours in transit from Manchester (note: if you don’t want an 8-hour layover in Dubai, pay for a direct flight) we arrived at our hotel just after South Africa had advanced to the Rugby World Cup Final. Now, there may not be a lot of Canadians following the World Cup but I can definitively say that next week nearly the whole of South Africa will be watching the Springboks take on England in the final. I’ve told my husband (a Brit) he isn’t allowed to speak during the entire match. I have a feeling that the South Africans might get a little…testy…if England kicks their ass. Rugby is a passion here in South Africa.

Bright and early this morning and a wee bit jet-lagged, I made my way down to Cotlands. I wasn’t sure what to expect but the moment I met Rochelle, the fundraising manager and my “new boss” I knew I’d made the right choice coming here. This week will be exciting: I’m going to help develop a monthly e-newsletter for their donors and sponsors, writing content and original stories and I’ll help the coordinator develop a similar newsletter for the international audience. I’m going to write stories for the “Hope Train” a project they are trying to get off the ground with a school in Kitchener/Waterloo where Cotlands kids will be sponsored, and develop pen pal relationships, with children back in Canada. Plus, they have many more mini-projects to keep me busy including writing an initial strategy for a fundraising campaign tied in with the World Cup 2010. I left Cotlands with my head swirling, but invigorated and haven’t stopped writing.

But today was about more than just duty assignment. As I was leaving through the lobby, the older kids were coming in from school, dressed in their plaid check uniforms and navy sweaters, even though it was scorching hot outside. As they passed me, some shyly avoiding my eyes, others brightly piping up “Hello!” I was reminded of why I’m doing this.

A little background on Cotlands. The organization celebrated its 70th anniversary last year, a pretty monumental feat for a non-profit organization. Their primary objectives are to care for the needy and neglected children of Africa hardest hit by the AIDS crisis. They work in five provinces providing: residential care, including a hospice and palliative unit to help kids die with dignity, home-based care with nurses and outreach workers visiting some of the poorest areas to provide medicine and food for those coping with AIDS (often grandmothers raising their orphaned grandchildren) a nutrition program counseling, orphan care and numerous support groups and income-generating programs.

It is staggering to look at the numbers affected by AIDS in South Africa. Cotlands currently assists just over 2000 kids throughout five provinces; they have won countless awards for their work. They would love to be able to feed, and provide clothes and medicine for 5000 children, but they currently don’t have the funds or capacity to meet that need.

“Two thousand kids is a drop in the bucket,” Rochelle told me.

“At least you are turning the tap,” I replied.

One of the mini-articles I’m writing is for World AIDS Day, December 1st. Cotlands used to mark the occasion by interring the ashes of the children who had died that year. I can’t imagine how heartbreaking that would have been. Many of the staff has been with Cotlands for years, and many of the children are brought as infants and raised here. A few years ago one of the boys, who was around eight years old, made a special request. He was already very sick, and told his caregiver he wanted both cakes “because this is going to be my last birthday.” He got the two cakes, and died a few weeks later. On World AIDS Day that year Rochelle broke down. “He was such an incredible kid,” she told me. She added that though staff normally can cope – death is a part of the job – and they are provided with grief counselors, it sometimes hits them hard.

But the story I’m writing for World AIDS Day is not steeped in sadness, but in celebration. Since the government roll out of the Anti-Retrovirals (ARVs – more on that later), the medicine that helps people living with AIDS live longer lives, the kids at Cotlands aren’t dying as often. It has been so drastic that they needed to purchase a building for the older kids to live in. Don't get me wrong: some of the kids are brought into Cotlands so sick, there is nothing they can do for them but administer pain relief. But the kids that they catch early, when the drugs can actually do the trick, are running, playing, learning, and living. There are far few deaths because they have the medicine and the dedicated staff to deliver the drug program.

So, this year the volunteers have organized a party on World AIDS day and invited 400 children from the Home Based Care program. They’re hoping to have a jumpy castle – if anyone wants to donate some funds to make that happen please let me know – lots of food, laughter and Christmas presents for all the kids.

They’re celebrating life. I wish I was going to that party.

More tomorrow…