With G8 and Live 8, the suffering in Africa suddenly seems to have the world's attention. And this week, first lady Laura Bush is adding to the spotlight on Africa. The “Today” show’s Ann Curry is traveling with Bush, who is in Africa on an ambitious trip looking at some tough problems facing the continent: AIDS, poverty and genocide.
At Dula Sentle, a charity for children orphaned by AIDS, there are faces of unimaginable loss. Some have seen as many as 12 family members die — their loved ones buried in the village cemetery. One child, Charity, worries about her own future. She says the disease "makes me afraid because I will [end up] dying."
Botswana, a nation fearing for its survival, has launched Africa’s most aggressive war on AIDS, becoming the first to offer life sustaining anti-retroviral drugs. The program is funded in part with millions of dollars from the U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck and the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation. Now clinics nationwide routinely test patients for HIV. But some people object because of the overwhelming stigma. To combat that, a very public campaign encourages people to protect themselves. There is even a beauty pageant in Botswana called Miss HIV Stigma Free.
This year's winner, Cynthia Leshomo, attempted suicide when she first learned she had HIV. Now she talks publicly about her struggle despite intense discrimination.
“We just want to eliminate this problem of stigma, because we are dying because of this stigma,” says Leshomo.
There are encouraging signs here the campaign is working. New mothers-to-be are testing postive at lower rates. A coffin factory where business once boomed because of AIDS now reports orders are nearly half what they used to be. And fewer children are being brought each week to that charity for orphans run by Gill Fonteyn and his wife, Brenda.
Gill says, “If we give up, who's there? Who is there in our village? Who's there in our country [that] will turn and look at our kids and say, “I'll be there every day for you?”
For Botswana to truly save itself, the HIV infection rate must at least be stabilized. But for now, the prayers of people across the country are still waiting to be answered.