The Precious Babes

Awa

Mohamed

Jeanne

Boubacar

Days at the Pouponniere are going well! I feel as if I am slowly building rapport and each time I visit I get a little further into the Pouponniere family. The babies names are slowly becoming ingrained in my brain as well; believe it or not, it is very difficult to memorize 80 babies' names, especially when they are Senegalese names and Muslim names. The women at the orphanage talk to me more now and help me learn the names of the babies. They are also learning my name and making jokes with me. The Senegalese women who work there are very strong and animated; by strong, I mean emotionally and physically. They are efficient in every way, whether or not it is getting the babies to stop crying, to stop throwing something, to stop biting something or whether or not it is cleaning the babies, feeding the babies, or giving medication to the babies. It is fascinating to watch the work because they are carrying out a job and yet they are doing it with grace, love, and efficiency. I would just like to say that I am also slightly efficient at the orphanage; I never thought I could entertain 40 babies at a time or hold 7 babies at a time or have 10 babies crawling on me at the same time. I am passed the point of being overwhelmed and at the point where problem solving and multitasking comes natural. Although it is inevitable for me to be sad after spending time with the lovely babes, I am still thankful for the opportunity to give a little love to my new Pouponniere family.

HIV/AIDS

Last Wednesday I had a three hour lecture and seminar course on HIV/AIDS. The seminar was incredible; it was very informative as it took my mind to a sociological and anthropological level of bliss. The course commenced with the origins of the epidemic proceeding to information concerning the scope of the epidemic worldwide and then covered the epidemic specifically in reference to Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and then Senegal.
A co-founder of the African Consultants International (ACI) - which is where my school program stems from and is the Dakar, Senegal branch of the ACI program - was a frontier in the efforts in battling the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She approached the epidemic with a sociological and anthropological framework transitioning the issue from a statistical, medical epidemic to a social epidemic. Thus, with her innovative efforts HIV/AIDS was transformed into being viewed as an epidemic effecting each socio-economic aspect of life (health, economy, family interactions, social networks, food production, etc.) and the methods of prevention, education, and solution finding have been highly influenced, involving positive, increased efforts against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

I simply wanted to share a few facts, numbers, and information that was either shocking, mind-boggling, interesting, or a piece of information I was ignorant of before the seminar.

• HIV/AIDS began 27 years ago
• HIV/AIDS has caused over 25 million deaths
• the total number of people living with HIV is estimated at 33.4 million people globally
• it is estimated that there are nearly 7,500 new infections each day
• Africa holds 10% of the global population and is home to approximately 70% of all people living with HIV/AIDS
• more than three in four (76%) of AIDS deaths in the world in 2007 occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa, illustrating the unmet need for antiretroviral treatment in that part of the world despite significant advances
• Southern Africa alone accounts for 35% of people with HIV globally and one third (32%) of all new HIV infections and AIDS deaths in the world
• almost 61% of adults living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa, in 2007 were women.
• infection rates in young African women are far higher than in young men - rates among teenage girls are three to five times higher than in teenage boys (the biological make-up of the lining of the uterus is more susceptible to HIV/AIDS in younger females than older females as the uterus is in developmentally different stages)
• microbicides! - for the first time new HIV prevention research in 2009 reported efficacy in a microbicide controlled and initiated by women
• there is a concentrated epidemic with rates below 3% in the general populations but higher rates concentrated in certain groups with high risk behavior and in certain areas
• there are approximately 80,000 people living with HIV in Senegal - 9 women for every 5 men have HIV
  
• over 30,000 people have died of AIDS
• there are approximately 10,000 orphans as a result of HIV/AIDS

Well, there is a little bit of information - I hope you aren't feeling emotionally strained. I just think it is important for us to be aware of the items in this world that are affecting other human beings.

Wednesdays are my deep breathing days.

Head resting on the faded blue mat weaning from years of parentless babes’ first crawls, fingers pinching the teal fabric belonging to the nurses-jacket of the woman taking the babes’ temperatures, and little, squirmy, scarred feet wrapped in my hands, his gaze scrutinized my aura. I could feel his eyes deciphering my intentions, my character, my stability. He breathed me in and I let him. I tried with all my being to wordlessly assure him that I all I wanted to do was give him the love he deserves, even if it is only on every Wednesday for four hours, for four months.

I volunteer one day a week at the Pouponniere, an orphanage in the suburb of Dakar called Medina. It is a facility for infants between the ages of newborn and one year old. Abdu, the precious 2 year old I spoke of above is one of the 80-plus infants I spend time with on Wednesdays.

For a reson I have yet to find, Abdu is 2 years old and still staying in the orphanage... he is the oldest little one there. If it was economically possible I would take this two year old parentless child as my own. He is loud, rambunctious, snarky, completely in need of human touch, and devoid of life stability. I wish I could be his protector; however, since I am aware that it is not possible for me to be his or healthy for me to dwell on such matters, I simply give him extra hugs, kisses, and foot rubs when possible. Sometimes he acts like he does not want my hugs and foot-rubs but I know he does because he never moves away from me. There are times when I hug him and he holds his guard, not embracing me back, but he never refuses me. He pretends to not notice the kisses on his forehead until I walk away. The best times are when he gives into the love exuding from my caresses and lunges his tummy across my legs so I can rub his little back, or when I am rubbing one foot and then he sneaks his second little foot into my palm for more gentle baby-squeezes. The hardest times are when he reciprocates my embraces or when he sees a crying baby, walks over to them, and caresses their check before he tosses a toy at them to play with. The hardest times are when I have to stop my kisses and walk away from him standing in his white-metal crib yelling at me in a mixture of baby language and Wolof. I adore him. I adore all of them. The three Awa’s, the bubbly Boubacar, the three Ada’s, the smiley Mohamed, the giggly Amel, and the other babes’ whose names haven’t quite fit into my brain yet.

There is more to tell but for the moment I do not have the words, perhaps next time...