Student Reflection on HCT (HIV Counseling and Testing) Campaign - Hazar Khidir

HCT (HIV Counseling and Testing) Campaign
Two Saturdays ago, Margaret, Erin, and I decided to skip out on the scheduled activity for that day (visiting the University of Cape Town which was quite enjoyable I hear) and help out at the HCT (HIV Counseling and Testing) Campaign that was co-hosted by Treatment Action Campaign and MSF (Medecin Sans Frontiers/Doctors without Borders). We were picked up bright and early (8:30 am) that day to head to Khayelitsha.
We encountered a few mishaps once we got there, including a lack of keys to get into the MSF office, but it all ironed out and we made it to the testing location. Brian, an MSF worker, brought a MSF tent and all of the HIV testing materials. Once we got everything set up, we prepared for the next step which was going door-to-door with TAC’s Community Health Advocates. There were so many TAC volunteers that were there hired as community health workers. There was also a DJ and stage set up for dancing to try to attract people to stop by. Right when we arrived we were greeted by a group of 9 young girls who each gave us a hug. It was the warmest welcome I’ve ever received, and I literally felt better after the long rounds of hugs
Unfortunately, it started to rain which would most definitely reduce the number of people who’d come visit our tent. Nevertheless, Erin, Margaret, and I each went with a pair of Community Health Advocates. We cut through the maze of shacks and picked a random door. One of my two escorts’ name was Nana Africa. She knocked on the door to the home and a young woman opened the door. “Molo, Sisi,” she said. Nana Africa broke out in a tandem of clicks and vowels as she spoke in Xhosa, explaining and pointing to things on the pamphlets she held. She pointed the woman in the direction where the testing tent was set up.
We went to many houses that day. During the whole experience, I had no idea where we were, the shacks had no apparent organization to them, but the women walked expertly and confidently around bends and tiny alleys between shacks. There were no street names, no addresses; but they knew their neighborhood like the back of their thumbs. We walked into an empty shack that was Nana Africa’s or one of her relatives’. Nana Africa pulled out a bucket used as a make-shift toilet to use the rest room. In the midst of the poverty of the informal settlements in Khayelitsha, there are very few toilets. Residents of these communities desperately need adequate housing, and the government doesn’t appear to be building them quickly enough to meet the demand.
I tried to look away as she used the rest room, but it was obvious she was not the least bit uncomfortable. That’s the lovely thing about Xhosa culture; people are so absolutely comfortable being around you almost immediately after meeting. Often times at TAC event, a co-worker will rub my back or lay their hands in my lap while they’re talking to me. It’s something that wouldn’t really happen at any of my work experiences in the US, but it is so great. Breaking the “personal bubble” mindset really fosters the feeling of camaraderie that is so present at TAC.
In an effort to avert my eyes, as Nana Africa used the restroom, looked at one of the pictures on a small china cabinet of a young woman in graduation garb. Pictures are really loved in Khayelitsha. You could tell that the pictures on the china cabinet were really cherished. Nana Africa’s shack was really clean and nicely organized. Nearly all the shacks we visited that day were like that. They didn’t have much room in them—the kitchen was often a part of the very small sitting room and the bedroom could not usually hold more than a small mattress- but their residents had really made homes of them. I felt warm and homey standing in Nana Africa’s shack.
We made it back to the testing tent after having handed out all our pamphlets. There were so many kids there. Margaret, Erin, and I sat in three chairs next to the building adjacent to the tent and watched the dancing. We pulled out our cameras and began photographing the scene around us. One little girl came up and stood to have her picture taken. Soon a swarm of children came over. They would strike a funny pose, wait for us to snap the picture, then run over to us to see the resultant image.
At the end of the day it turned out only 14 people had come to be tested (compared to 81 at the last HCT Campaign). One of the men who administered the actual tests said he tested six people. Only one of them tested positive.