In acknowledgement of World AIDS Day, Mothers for All wants to draw your attention to a few of the countless amazing people and organisations courageously and creatively working to help those affected by the HIV epidemic in southern Africa. They are celebrated on the AIDSbuzz.org website as champions. A champion means a conqueror, a hero, a victor and a winner. It also describes a person who fights for a cause or another person. Both of these descriptions perfectly fit the people who are profiled on this website, which also includes our Mothers for All.

From left to right: Faghmeda Miller,  Dr Besser & Ms Qolo, Sonwabo Qathula and the Mojapelo sisters

Some of the AIDSbuzz champions are infected with HIV but have not allowed their disease to defeat them, such as Pastor Mbulelo Dyasi, who likes to tell people “I am Mbulelo Dyasi – I am not AIDS or HIV”. The popular former Eastern Cape AIDS Ambassador urges other HIV-positive people, especially men and youth, to come forward and stand up to the virus to stop it spreading. And then there is Faghmeda Miller, the first Muslim woman in South Africa to disclose her HIV status, who helped to found Positive Muslims, a non-profit organisation initially dedicated to helping HIV-positive Muslims, but now supporting people of all faiths.

The other champions are fighting tirelessly to uplift and better the lives of those who have been affected by the epidemic. Dr. Mitch Besser, a charming and enthusiastic American obstetrician who moved to Cape Town in 2000, quickly realised that newly diagnosed HIV-positive pregnant women needed much more than medical care. They needed psychosocial support as well as education to help them cope with their diagnosis and the impact of HIV disease on their pregnancy and lives thereafter. He also realised that HIV-positive mothers who had already given birth and been through the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme would make ideal mentors to help newly diagnosed pregnant women. Some of these women were therefore given training and asked to help form a support group for the new mothers. He called this group Mothers2Mothers2B. From a single support group at Groote Schuur hospital in Cape Town in 2001, the programme has been so successful it has now grown into a multinational non profit with 343 operational sites in South Africa and 302 in six other African countries (Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Swaziland and Zambia).

Then there is Sonwabo Qathula, one of a group of nine men who are working as home-based caregivers with the Siyakhanyisa HIV/AIDS Support Group in Qumbu, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, to make a positive contribution to the welfare of their community. Initially ridiculed for doing work reserved for women, they have quickly become role models and earned respect for their courage to do things differently and take responsibility for the goings-on in their villages. The men decided to get actively involved in helping others after they learnt about gender stereotypes during workshops run by NGO Sonke Gender Justice. They now care for people living with HIV, bathe the bedridden, counsel, educate about HIV prevention and transmission, facilitate access to anti-retroviral treatment, refer patients to social services, and assist sick persons in writing their will. They also encourage community members to test for HIV, distribute condoms and help disadvantaged school children with their homework and cook for them.

"The need to take care of children in distress in South Africa is a calling that came to me, like a burning fire - a fire that was raging but to no good purpose”, says Anna Mojapelo, co-founder of New Jerusalem Children’s Home in Midrand in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Anna, moved by the increasing number of children in her community that had been forgotten, neglected and orphaned by HIV and AIDS, felt driven to love, protect and provide these children with shelter. At the time Anna was a practising advocate and businesswoman. Her passion to help orphans and children in distress led her to work actively with the needy within the settlements around Midrand during her spare time.  However, she found the situations of the abandoned children so distressing that she was soon bringing the children home to live with her. News of the help that she was providing quickly spread amongst the local community, and the police, hospitals and community members started bringing vulnerable and abandoned children to Anna. She subsequently had to stop practising as an advocate to make time for the children in her care.  When the number of children grew to such an extent that it became too much for her to handle alone she asked her sister, Phina Mojapelo, a professional social worker, to help her provide a home for all the children. New Jerusalem Children's Home was officially opened in August 2000 by Anna and Phina Mojapelo.  The home now cares for 75 children with the help of a dedicated staff and volunteers. The sisters also carry out HIV and AIDS education programmes in the surrounding areas to try to address the problem at source.

For more information about these and more such champions go to the AIDSbuzz website.