By
Pacharo Felix Munthali
It
is Wednesday. 26 August 2009. This is Namikoko Clinic. It is part of mobile
clinic services of Mlambe
Hospital and the District
Health Officer. This is the only day in a month that people under TA Lundu, Group
Headman Mkumba receive the Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART).
For
the people surrounding Namikoko to start accessing the drug, it has been a long
journey. It is a battle fought by a women group. The situation was critical. Men
also joined the cause. “We saw that if the problem is to be dealt with, we, men
should take part,” says James Bwanali, an active member of the group.
Under
the banner of the National Aids Commission’s (NAC) Tigwirane Manja, Nanjiri
Radio Listening Club (RLC) is just one of the many RLCs that sprouted
throughout the country from 2005, managed by Malawi Broadcasting Cooperation’s
Development Broadcasting Unit (DBU).
Today
is the third time to access the drug, an activity that takes place once a
month. Yet it is a story that spins years of struggle as well.
Within
this group, there is a woman. She has seen her family wobble, one child after
another passing away. Her future crumbled before her face. The demise of her
two children meant the responsibility horizon widening – she had to take care
of the six siblings of her two children that had passed away within six months
in 2007.
She
was not the only one facing the hitches; more people were going through the
same cycle of helplessness. May be different but with one common root, of
course - the distance.
As
the Chairperson of Nanjiri RLC Dolla Tanga sits and casts her gaze, she shakes
her head. She tries to smile, but the smile quickly fades. She looks as if any
minute tears will freely flow to the cold floor of this modest house. She is
one of the fewest that took part in this problem of HIV and AIDS.
“I
myself take ARVs,” she starts a story that snakes through highs and lows that
has not only adversely devastated her family, but wrecked her community too.
“One
of my children was HIV positive. When he got very ill I had to go to Chiradzulu
and receive ARVs for him,” Tanga a Chairperson of Nanjiri Radio Listening Club
digs on.
She
had to walk for three hours. Many were there, from even further distances, yet
they were languishing despite arriving fast. Paradoxically, those near the
centre were served first.
“What
I saw touched me,” she says.
It
is such a distance from home to the ARV dispensing centre. It was time to do
something.
She
might have been lucky to walk such a distant due to her fitness. But there are many
that cover more than such distances foregoing excruciating pain. The distance
from Nanjiri to Lirangwe is a long one too; covering more than 20 km.
The long journey
It
was sometime back. 2006. The group from Nanjiri recorded a village voice, a tape containing problems that the people in the area
face in relation to the HIV and AIDS. The village
voice is the views of the communities recorded.
Nanjiri
RLC has more than twelve members. It has done a number of programmes that have
been aired on MBC radio. They have done programmes to do with stigmatization,
and Voluntary Counseling and Testing among other issues. The focus on the
latter was distance. The communities under Group Mkumba wanted the VCT to be
within their area. They succeeded.
As
a follow up to this event on1st December 2006 at Mdeka during the
World AIDS Day, says Tanga, the group met the District Health Officer. They
gave the DHO the tape containing their recorded problems.
“But
when we made follow ups, the group was told the tape was missing,” recalls the
Chairperson, a reminiscence of the past years of hardship becomes conspicuous.
It
is a journey shaped by personal turbulents too. After losing two children,
leaving behind six children together – seeing how both had struggled to access
the drug because of the distance – it was time to set off.
When
the Blantyre Assembly asked the Development Broadcasting Unit (DBU) to work in
this area under Tigwirane Manja project funded by NAC, hopes of the people
surged. It was time for action.
Came
2008, the Nanjiri group upon seeing some of the problems they were grappling in
continuing, they agreed to take up the issue once more. And for all. They went
to Lirangwe where Mlambe
Hospital had a mobile
centre that is used to administer life-prolonging drugs. “We asked who is
responsible for distributing ARVs,” one of the Nanjiri RLCs members recalls.
Perhaps
it is on 6 June 2009 when this long sad chapter finally begun to close. It is
the day the District Health Officer for Blantyre;
Dr Lillian Chunda was exceptionally responsive to the community demands. The Department
of Health in its research last year says, there are about 30 000 people on ARTs
in Blanytre.
However,
the sad fact is that the majority of those on ARTs are those from Blantyre urban areas.
This means that many from rural areas are deprived of the drug.
According
to Dr Chunda, Mlambe
Hospital alone was helping
3000 people by giving them ARTs. These are the people from Chileka, Lundu, Lirangwe
and Mdeka among others. She is convinced by the resilience of DBU communities.
“These efforts must reach more places,” she says.
This
perhaps is the reason why Nanjiri RLC in 2008 was voted the best radio
listening club of the year. It got K75 000 from sponsoring companies in an MBC
organized event. The money is used by the Club in crisscrossing in all 14
catchment areas in the area of TA Lundu.
Reflections and
the present
Today Group
Village Headman Mkumba can afford a
smile radiating satisfaction. He grins as he looks directly into my eyes. His
mouth opens. “During that time people were afraid of having a voluntary testing
of blood,” the past twinkles in his eyes. “I am a happy ma, we did it.”
The
advocacy and awareness through Development Broadcasting Unit (DBU) acted as a
catalyst for change. “Messages have now reached every corner,” Group Village Headman
with a pleased chuckle in his voice.
“Now
people are happy. They now believe in themselves. They know that the future is
in their hands,” says Bwanali.
“Today
we have a rule,” he stops only to resume his recount, few seconds later. “In
those days the youths could marry one another anyhow. Today they are supposed
to first have their blood tested before going into marriage.”
With
the help of radio, the people are undertaking many initiatives. This is why the
Director of Programmes Geoffrey Kazembe, representing the Director General of
MBC, called the initiative as “crucial.”
“This
initiative is crucial in underlining the cooperation amongst organizations and
the people they serve,” Kazembe says adding that MBC is committed to march its
role of educating, informing and entertaining the nation in line with people’s
wishes.
It
is only through the involvement of the people that the country can develop and
achieve all pillars as contained in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy
(MGDS).
“This
initiative,” says Kazembe “is a witness of this cooperation.”
Vision
Today
the whole area of TA Lundu is a happy one. “Our area was lagging behind, now we
are empowered, we can demand responsiveness from duty bearers and expect
answers,” the Group Mkumba says.
Hamilton
Chimala, the Project manager of DBU says the Unit has it own vision. In all 14
districts that the Unit is covering, it scaling up its presence on the ground
to at least have a RLC in every Traditional Authority.
Just
as the Unit is having its own vision, the area today is having its own vision with
diverse focus too. Now the area wants to focus on the environment, too. Chivumbe
Hills barely have any tree. The groundwork has already started. The
relationship with HIV and AIDS and livelihood is so distinct.
However,
for today it is time to join happy singing. A new chapter has opened. The
distances will at least be forgotten. Tomorrow, through radio, on the menu is
the issue of a maternity facility. They are saving their soles from long
distances…again…
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