Hope Village offers refuge, care and dignity

THE Hope Village under construction on the outskirts of Katutura will be operational from the middle of January.

The Village will give refuge to people who are affected by and infected with HIV-AIDS – people who have been rejected by their communities because of their HIV-AIDS status, unwanted children and babies and those too ill to care for themselves. The Hope Village will be the first of its kind in Namibia and only the second in the world, with the other one being in Johannesburg.The clinic at the village will be staffed by doctors each volunteering their services for two hours a week.It will be exclusively for people infected with HIV-AIDS, and the main focus will be on HIV-infected mothers and their children.Statistics in South Africa have shown that men do not tend to make full use of the Hope Village because they keep working until they die and they are also concerned about the stigma attached to the disease.Women, on the other hand, are more desperate to receive help for themselves and their children.In Johannesburg about two-thirds of the patients are women, and the same trend is expected here.Pharm Access, a pharmaceutical company from the Netherlands, has come aboard and pledged to assist the clinic with medicines and the services of a fully qualified nurse.Mothers and children referred to the Hope Village by hospitals, doctors or their communities will be screened by Pharm Access to determine whether they do need to live in the Village.There are seven houses for children, a house for mothers and their babies and a hospice for the terminally ill.Ongoing skills training will give mothers the opportunity to better not only their own lives but also those of their children and once they are well enough they can leave the village and earn money for their families.Should their health deteriorate, they will be transferred to the hospice.Hope Village will also assist with funeral arrangements.The main point is that children will not be separated from their mothers.Usually, when a mother gets ill, she goes to hospital and never returns, and no one informs the children and looks after their emotional needs.In the village social workers and psychologists will look after the emotional, intellectual and physical wellbeing of each child and they will be with the child every step of the way.The Village will seek scholarships for children who show intellectual promise so that they can go to university and lead productive lives in their communities.The other children will receive practical training so that they too can earn a living and make something of their lives.Pastor Marietjie de Klerk, the founder of the Hope Village, says they agree with Government that each child belongs in a family home with a mother and father and not in an institution.Hope Village is not an institution but rather a townhouse complex where different people live.De Klerk says the ideal would be to place the children in homes with a mother and father but sadly the reality is that it is very difficult to find people who are willing to adopt children.To terminally ill people, the Hope Village hospice offers a dignified death where every patient is treated as an individual.Although the Hope Village is often a last resort for HIV-AIDS patients, it is still a place of happiness where life is celebrated.The walls and rooms will be colourful and everyone will be encouraged to live up to the slogan ‘Get Up And Live’.It is a place where children can feel that although they have lost their parents to this dreaded disease, there is still a life worth living and that it should be lived to the fullest.There will also be a craft shop and a shop selling donated second-hand goods on the premises.”I dream to give the children a home which is as close to a home as what I would want my children to have,” says Pastor De Klerk.People who are interested in helping the Hope Village by either material donations or volunteering their time are welcome to phone Andreen Moncur at 081 124 8386.The Hope Village will be the first of its kind in Namibia and only the second in the world, with the other one being in Johannesburg.The clinic at the village will be staffed by doctors each volunteering their services for two hours a week.It will be exclusively for people infected with HIV-AIDS, and the main focus will be on HIV-infected mothers and their children.Statistics in South Africa have shown that men do not tend to make full use of the Hope Village because they keep working until they die and they are also concerned about the stigma attached to the disease.Women, on the other hand, are more desperate to receive help for themselves and their children.In Johannesburg about two-thirds of the patients are women, and the same trend is expected here.Pharm Access, a pharmaceutical company from the Netherlands, has come aboard and pledged to assist the clinic with medicines and the services of a fully qualified nurse.Mothers and children referred to the Hope Village by hospitals, doctors or their communities will be screened by Pharm Access to determine whether they do need to live in the Village.There are seven houses for children, a house for mothers and their babies and a hospice for the terminally ill.Ongoing skills training will give mothers the opportunity to better not only their own lives but also those of their children and once they are well enough they can leave the village and earn money for their families.Should their health deteriorate, they will be transferred to the hospice.Hope Village will also assist with funeral arrangements.The main point is that children will not be separated from their mothers.Usually, when a mother gets ill, she goes to hospital and never returns, and no one informs the children and looks after their emotional needs.In the village social workers and psychologists will look after the emotional, intellectual and physical wellbeing of each child and they will be with the child every step of the way.The Village will seek scholarships for children who show intellectual promise so that they can go to university and lead productive lives in their communities.The other children will receive practical training so that they too can earn a living and make something of their lives.Pastor Marietjie de Klerk, the founder of the Hope Village, says they agree with Government that each child belongs in a family home with a mother and father and not in an institution.Hope Village is not an institution but rather a townhouse complex where different people live.De Klerk says the ideal would be to place the children in homes with a mother and father but sadly the reality is that it is very difficult to find people who are willing to adopt children.To terminally ill people, the Hope Village hospice offers a dignified death where every patient is treated as an individual.Although the Hope Village is often a last resort for HIV-AIDS patients, it is still a place of happiness where life is celebrated.The walls and rooms will be colourful and everyone will be encouraged to live up to the slogan ‘Get Up And Live’.It is a place where children can feel that although they have lost their parents to this dreaded disease, there is still a life worth living and that it should be lived to the fullest.There will also be a craft shop and a shop selling donated second-hand goods on the premises.”I dream to give the children a home which is as close to a home as what I would want my children to have,” says Pastor De Klerk.People who are interested in helping the Hope Village by either material donations or volunteering their time are welcome to phone Andreen Moncur at 081 124 8386.