For the love of the children

WINDHOEK – To her neighbours she’s known as Ouma Linda, or ‘the AIDS Ouma’, a woman with little means of her own trying to provide for destitute children.

But Linda Elliot says that she’s just trying to do what God wants her to do by giving needy children a home. “I’m not working for an organisation,” she says.”I’m just giving these children a family home, that’s all.”There are 13 members of the Elliot household living in a three-bedroom house in Windhoek’s Khomasdal residential area.The family consists of Elliot, her husband, their two biological daughters, adopted son, granddaughter, son-in-law, live-in domestic worker and five minor children who are not her biological offspring, and of whom two are HIV positive.One of these is a mere three months old.”I was on my way to a wedding in the North, and the baby’s mother phoned me, telling me that she had tried to take the baby to one of the children’s homes, but that they wouldn’t accept her,” she says, explaining how the newest member of their family came to be with them.”I decided to take her in before her mother dumped her.I phoned my husband, and he and my daughter went to pick up the child, since I was not in Windhoek during that time.”It is not the first time she has taken an HIV-positive baby into her home, and in mid-2003, the family buried five-month-old Tamila.”She died a terrible death, that I wouldn’t want anyone else to experience, at only five months old,” says Elliot.After what happened with Tamila, she says that she feels strongly that Government should put more effort into restricting women with HIV from having children.Even now, with anti-retroviral treatment available for pregnant women living with the virus, Elliot says, the possibility is still too strong that these children could suffer from an early, and painful death or, if they make it, grow up without a mother to look after them.The entire family is very close to the children.”I have the best nurses in the world,” Elliot says of her two daughters, Samantha and Carroll, who help to look after the children between their work and school duties.Elliot’s husband, Patrick, is a self-employed plumber.Apart from the help they receive from the church, the family depends solely on his income.”I used to get N$10 a day for two of the children, but they [Social Services] stopped it without giving a reason.Anyway, it was such a long process,” she explains.”First I get the documents from Social Services, then I take it to a magistrate who has to sign it.From there I have to take it to Social Services again where it lies for three to four weeks.But, when it does come, it really comes in handy.”Recently, the family also received help from the Red Cross Society, who have agreed to provide one of the children with food for the next 6 months.Helen Mouton, a social worker with the Ministry of Health and Social Services, says that the most probable reason payment was stopped to Elliot, was because she was only allowed to keep the children who are in her care, for six months, after which a permanent home for them should be arranged.Elliot has had the two children in her care for two years already.”We have to do a complete background check on any of these people to make sure that it’s something legitimate,” says Mouton.”Too often, it seems like people are doing something good, when actually they’re just in it for the money.Only if we are sure that the child will be looked after properly then will we give him or her over to that person.”A home like Elliot’s where children are being looked after is classified as a place of safety.It means that the child is in the care of someone who has not legally adopted him or her.Nevertheless, Elliot says that she believes this to be her calling, and will go through with it, no matter what.”Lots of people say that I’m being stupid,” she says.”I don’t care what anyone says.I’m not doing this for the money, I’m doing this for God, who I believe will provide for us, as he always has.”- Nampa-ENS”I’m not working for an organisation,” she says.”I’m just giving these children a family home, that’s all.”There are 13 members of the Elliot household living in a three-bedroom house in Windhoek’s Khomasdal residential area.The family consists of Elliot, her husband, their two biological daughters, adopted son, granddaughter, son-in-law, live-in domestic worker and five minor children who are not her biological offspring, and of whom two are HIV positive.One of these is a mere three months old.”I was on my way to a wedding in the North, and the baby’s mother phoned me, telling me that she had tried to take the baby to one of the children’s homes, but that they wouldn’t accept her,” she says, explaining how the newest member of their family came to be with them.”I decided to take her in before her mother dumped her.I phoned my husband, and he and my daughter went to pick up the child, since I was not in Windhoek during that time.”It is not the first time she has taken an HIV-positive baby into her home, and in mid-2003, the family buried five-month-old Tamila. “She died a terrible death, that I wouldn’t want anyone else to experience, at only five months old,” says Elliot.After what happened with Tamila, she says that she feels strongly that Government should put more effort into restricting women with HIV from having children.Even now, with anti-retroviral treatment available for pregnant women living with the virus, Elliot says, the possibility is still too strong that these children could suffer from an early, and painful death or, if they make it, grow up without a mother to look after them. The entire family is very close to the children.”I have the best nurses in the world,” Elliot says of her two daughters, Samantha and Carroll, who help to look after the children between their work and school duties.Elliot’s husband, Patrick, is a self-employed plumber.Apart from the help they receive from the church, the family depends solely on his income. “I used to get N$10 a day for two of the children, but they [Social Services] stopped it without giving a reason.Anyway, it was such a long process,” she explains. “First I get the documents from Social Services, then I take it to a magistrate who has to sign it.From there I have to take it to Social Services again where it lies for three to four weeks.But, when it does come, it really comes in handy.” Recently, the family also received help from the Red Cross Society, who have agreed to provide one of the children with food for the next 6 months. Helen Mouton, a social worker with the Ministry of Health and Social Services, says that the most probable reason payment was stopped to Elliot, was because she was only allowed to keep the children who are in her care, for six months, after which a permanent home for them should be arranged.Elliot has had the two children in her care for two years already. “We have to do a complete background check on any of these people to make sure that it’s something legitimate,” says Mouton. “Too often, it seems like people are doing something good, when actually they’re just in it for the money.Only if we are sure that the child will be looked after properly then will we give him or her over to that person.”A home like Elliot’s where children are being looked after is classified as a place of safety.It means that the child is in the care of someone who has not legally adopted him or her. Nevertheless, Elliot says that she believes this to be her calling, and will go through with it, no matter what.”Lots of people say that I’m being stupid,” she says.”I don’t care what anyone says.I’m not doing this for the money, I’m doing this for God, who I believe will provide for us, as he always has.”- Nampa-ENS