Red Cross Blogs

Angelina adopts two orphans in Malawi

By Sarah Oughton
August 13, 2009 at 4:42 pm

That’s right you heard it here first, not to be outdone by Madonna, Angelina has adopted two young siblings in Malawi, whose parents died as a result of AIDS related disease. Now if I tell you Angelina – a beautiful, strong, independent woman – is no Hollywood celebrity, would you keep reading?

Because in my line of business you rarely rub shoulders with the stars and indeed I’m not talking about Mrs Brad Pitt. I’m talking about a 24-year-old woman who scrapes a living as a part-time cleaner. I met Angelina, or Angel as her friends call her, a couple of years ago when I went to Malawi to visit my mum who was working for Voluntary Services Overseas.

Angel is a sparky, intelligent woman and wants to train to be a nurse. At the moment she’s had to put this dream on hold, as when her parents died she become the sole provider for her two young siblings Midias (12) and Innocent (9).

I was reminded about Angel this morning when I read an article in the Metro about HIV. It talks about the scale of ignorance among the world’s youth, apparently one in three youngsters don’t believe using condoms stops the spread of sexually transmitted disease.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the stats are a little different with young people believing themselves to be well-informed about HIV – it’s kind of hard not to be when most have attended at least one funeral of someone they knew who had AIDS.

The problem is, even if people in Africa are well-informed, HIV is already rife and it’s the stigma surrounding it which prevents people getting the treatment they need. That’s not to say stigma isn’t an issue in the UK, in fact it’s probably worse.

Let me ask you a few questions – it’ll be interesting to see if I get any responses. So…

•    How often do you talk openly about HIV?
•    Would you admit to having unprotected sex?
•    Would you admit it to a new lover, your friends, your parents?
•    Have you ever been tested for HIV?
•    Would you encourage others to get tested?
•    Would you discuss being tested with your friends and family?
•    Do you know what treatment is available for people living with HIV?
•    Would you do first aid on someone you knew had HIV?

Even though, as the Metro reports, more than 102,000 people in Britain have been diagnosed with HIV, I think we are still afraid to talk about it. And I think this needs to change. Like with most things, the more you can talk about something, the better informed you are and the less scary it becomes.

I spent four months in Malawi and in just that short time I attended the funeral of someone I’d come to know. His name was Alfred and at first we had no idea he was ill. But as his health started to deteriorate my mum tried to encourage him to go to the hospital to get tested for HIV. But Alfred was too scared and he never went.

Not long after this, my mum noticed Angel’s younger brother and sister looked really ill, their noses were constantly running and they always seemed tired. So she asked Angel if she’d had them tested. Angel said no and admitted that she was too frightened. We offered to go with them to the clinic and Angel agreed.

I wish I could tell you the results were negative, but they weren’t.

HIV isn’t something that only happens in other countries, it affects people in the UK too. The British Red Cross works both in the UK and overseas educating people about the prevention of HIV and combating stigma.

In fact, all over the world young people have stories to tell about living with HIV and how they’re getting on with their lives. Here are some of their video stories – by sharing them with friends you can make a difference.

This week, I received an email from my mum who was back in Malawi catching up with friends, including Angel. It’s good news.

She wrote: “I can’t believe the difference in both Midias and Innocent now that they are taking antiretroviral drugs. They look so well, remember how before they never had any energy, now they are full of life.

“Not only that, it seems like Angel has taken on a new role in her community, she keeps telling everyone how important it is to get tested before it’s too late.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Image 1 © Sarah Oughton/BRC

Image 2 © Jonathan Banks/BRC

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Tags: AIDS, antiretroviral, Health and social care, HIV, Malawi, red cross, stigma, VSO

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 4:42 pm and is filed under Health and social care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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