[June 29, 2010]

Today was our second (and final) trip to the field to see the HIV Support Groups. We were able to visit three groups from the middle tier – groups that are relatively stable but not well-organized with their business management practices.

The first was named Mapuyu, and they were, like Geni, the most inspiring for the day. Every Tuesday, the members meet and spend time making HIV pins (beaded patterns attached to safety pins that they sell to other HIV/AIDS patients as a way to unite and raise awareness), practicing songs and drama, and distributing local medicine. When I first heard the term “local medicine,” I wasn’t sure what that meant. The first thought that came to mind was, “Antiretrovirals? Are they being produced locally?” Luckily, I didn’t have to stay confused for long because soon enough, one representative of the support group announced that she wanted to show us their medical supplies in the room behind us. When we entered, what I found was amazing. Spread out neatly on a blanket on the ground was a whole display of 14 types of plant leaves, stems, and flowers. As one woman proceeded to describe each herbal remedy and how it was used, I just kept thinking about the effectiveness. We’ve all heard of alternative medicine and its legends – maybe even its miracles, but what concerned me was the potential reliance of HIV+ patients on these remedies. Is it enough? Will adopting local medicines prevent them from one day seeking ARVs? Regardless of the actual usage, it turned out that Mapuyu Support Group was selling these medicines as a business. Producing these 14 types of herbs was their income-generating activity. And if it was a successful venture, then it would be of benefit. The problem now was sustaining this business. They have limited supplies to produce the medicine and are limited by transportation costs to reach new patients/consumers. They need some business management help.

The second visit was to a village called Mferamanyzi. They were also a “middle-tiered” group, who had recently suffered a setback that probably drove them to unstable, “bottom-tier” waters. 5 pigs and 13 piglets died recently, with unknown reasons, leaving the few active members of the group disheartened. As opposed to other support groups that seemed to have a lively spirit among their members, only three members were present to meet us and the mood was dreary. From asking questions, we found that there was, in general, low participation among members due to laziness. It seemed that the leaders were not motivating their members well enough, and without this foundation of teamwork, the recent piggery devastation only worsened the situation. Hearing this, I felt inspired to incorporate training in leadership in our program, though I’m not sure how much time we will have. It seems like such an important message to relay to these support groups though, that maybe it will need to be an entire underlying theme to our program.

The final visit was to Lonjezo, a village that had recently received government assistance to build an irrigation system for their crops. Unfortunately, they had also experienced a recent setback in the form of ill-growing maize, and had not saved properly to deal with such emergency times. It sounded like this support group could certainly benefit from our Savings lesson, which we had already developed over the spring semester. If anything, this visit provided verification that we were on the right track with our program components.