Surviving on hope, love and charity

ROMANUS Adams is five years old but looks three.

His sister Angeline is 20 months but can easily be mistaken for a tender 12 months. Both are the children of a bedridden Elizabeth Adams who is being treated for TB.Adams herself looks like a scrawny teenager.The hospital sent her home in December and suggested that she get home-based care from family members.But the family wants to have anything to do with her.In fact, they kicked out her sister, who now lives on a farm south of Keetmanshoop.Adams has six children of whom three contracted TB from her.Since the family rejected her and the children, they have found a new family headed by Thusnelde //Guruses, who is unemployed.She has four children of her own, as well as three girls she took in from the streets after they fled domestic abuse.They all live in a two-room house in the Ha Ida Om /Hao section of Keetmanshoop’s Tseiblaagte suburb.The family’s struggles are evident even from a distance.The house remains unfinished – unpainted, no cement floor, no electricity and no latrine.But so are all the houses in that section of Tseiblaagte.”Life is very tough if you are unemployed.Apart from the Adams family, I have four other TB patients who take their treatment under my supervision,” says //Guruses.She says she had felt compelled to care for the Adams family in.”She was in hospital for some time and none of her family members visited her.When the hospital discharged her, she pleaded that I take care of her and the children.I was touched by her situation and took her in even though I am unemployed,” she told The Namibian.At the time of the interview, there were two other young women in hospital who were rejected by their families.”I have stopped going to the hospital because every time I go there, these two expect me to take them home.As you can see, I am unable to do that,” //Guruses says.BELOW THE BREADLINEThe majority of home owners in the Ha Ida Om /Hao section, better known as Haida Park, are women with salaries that range between N$200 and N$1 000 a month.There are sick people in most of the houses; they sleep packed like sardines.//Guruses, a volunteer at a local counselling centre, says the women have now established a feeding scheme with 180 registered children and have applied to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Welfare for assistance.While the father of the six Adams children pays N$50 per child maintenance a month, //Guruses depends mainly on the helping hands of three local women who provide them with vegetables once a week.The Ministry of Basic Education has just approved a recommendation by its Karas regional directorate that the children be exempted from paying school fees.In addition, the Women Affairs and Child Welfare Ministry has instructed the Karas Regional Council to provide drought relief food to the children to ease their plight.Adams says her hope for the children rests on //Guruses’ shoulders.”I have given them to her.The big four are in school because of her and she takes Angeline with her every day while Romanus remains with me,” she says.An unemployed neighbour keeps an eye on Romanus and his mother during the day while //Guruses hunts for bread.Adams would rather keep the children with her than give them to their father.”He has five other children with my sister.Even my sister ran away from him and from our family,” she says.COLD FACTSThe World Health Organisation (WHO) reported last year that Namibia has a 98 per cent detection rate on TB but only half of these cases are being treated successfully through the Directly Observed Treatment, Short course or DOTS strategy.The WHO has set the target rate for success at 75 per cent.In 1996 the treatment success rate in Namibia was 54 per cent, in 1997 it was 58 per cent, 60 per cent in 1998, 50 per cent in 1999 and 53 per cent in 2000.The detection rate varied from 75 per cent to 98 per cent during the same period.The report notes that six per cent of the 4 013 cases registered in 2000 ended in deaths, while 14 per cent of patients failed to complete the treatment programme.Between 1995 and 2000, TB cases increased at an average rate of 10 per cent a year.The WHO says the co-infection of TB and HIV-AIDS, as well as multi-drug resistance to the disease are major factors leading to the low success rate of the programme.It also blames patients who abandon their treatment.The development of multi-drug resistant strains has been on the increase, caused by inconsistent or partial treatment of ordinary TB.Drug-resistant strains can cost up to N$25 000 to treat, as opposed to N$250 to treat a new infection.At best, only half of those infected with the new strains can be cured.Both are the children of a bedridden Elizabeth Adams who is being treated for TB.Adams herself looks like a scrawny teenager.The hospital sent her home in December and suggested that she get home-based care from family members.But the family wants to have anything to do with her.In fact, they kicked out her sister, who now lives on a farm south of Keetmanshoop.Adams has six children of whom three contracted TB from her.Since the family rejected her and the children, they have found a new family headed by Thusnelde //Guruses, who is unemployed.She has four children of her own, as well as three girls she took in from the streets after they fled domestic abuse.They all live in a two-room house in the Ha Ida Om /Hao section of Keetmanshoop’s Tseiblaagte suburb.The family’s struggles are evident even from a distance.The house remains unfinished – unpainted, no cement floor, no electricity and no latrine.But so are all the houses in that section of Tseiblaagte.”Life is very tough if you are unemployed.Apart from the Adams family, I have four other TB patients who take their treatment under my supervision,” says //Guruses.She says she had felt compelled to care for the Adams family in.”She was in hospital for some time and none of her family members visited her.When the hospital discharged her, she pleaded that I take care of her and the children.I was touched by her situation and took her in even though I am unemployed,” she told The Namibian.At the time of the interview, there were two other young women in hospital who were rejected by their families.”I have stopped going to the hospital because every time I go there, these two expect me to take them home.As you can see, I am unable to do that,” //Guruses says.BELOW THE BREADLINEThe majority of home owners in the Ha Ida Om /Hao section, better known as Haida Park, are women with salaries that range between N$200 and N$1 000 a month.There are sick people in most of the houses; they sleep packed like sardines.//Guruses, a volunteer at a local counselling centre, says the women have now established a feeding scheme with 180 registered children and have applied to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Welfare for assistance.While the father of the six Adams children pays N$50 per child maintenance a month, //Guruses depends mainly on the helping hands of three local women who provide them with vegetables once a week.The Ministry of Basic Education has just approved a recommendation by its Karas regional directorate that the children be exempted from paying school fees.In addition, the Women Affairs and Child Welfare Ministry has instructed the Karas Regional Council to provide drought relief food to the children to ease their plight.Adams says her hope for the children rests on //Guruses’ shoulders.”I have given them to her.The big four are in school because of her and she takes Angeline with her every day while Romanus remains with me,” she says.An unemployed neighbour keeps an eye on Romanus and his mother during the day while //Guruses hunts for bread.Adams would rather keep the children with her than give them to their father.”He has five other children with my sister.Even my sister ran away from him and from our family,” she says.COLD FACTSThe World Health Organisation (WHO) reported last year that Namibia has a 98 per cent detection rate on TB but only half of these cases are being treated successfully through the Directly Observed Treatment, Short cou
rse or DOTS strategy.The WHO has set the target rate for success at 75 per cent.In 1996 the treatment success rate in Namibia was 54 per cent, in 1997 it was 58 per cent, 60 per cent in 1998, 50 per cent in 1999 and 53 per cent in 2000.The detection rate varied from 75 per cent to 98 per cent during the same period.The report notes that six per cent of the 4 013 cases registered in 2000 ended in deaths, while 14 per cent of patients failed to complete the treatment programme.Between 1995 and 2000, TB cases increased at an average rate of 10 per cent a year.The WHO says the co-infection of TB and HIV-AIDS, as well as multi-drug resistance to the disease are major factors leading to the low success rate of the programme.It also blames patients who abandon their treatment.The development of multi-drug resistant strains has been on the increase, caused by inconsistent or partial treatment of ordinary TB.Drug-resistant strains can cost up to N$25 000 to treat, as opposed to N$250 to treat a new infection.At best, only half of those infected with the new strains can be cured.