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Some 5.5 million South Africans are infected with HIV. (Reuters) |
WINDHOEK — Three major Muslim organizations are joining hands in catering for the different needs of destitute HIV positive Muslim women and children in the South African capital.
"We can no longer hide. The idea that AIDS should not be there just because we are Muslims has been overtaken by the hard reality," Suriaya Nawab, the director of Care Center told IslamOnline.net.
"Residents are provided with a home, food, clothing, medication, a caring, hygienic environment, psycho-social support and counseling."
The center, headquartered in Johannesburg’s predominantly Muslim suburb of Mayfair, is run by the Muslim AIDS Program (MAP).
It currently houses eight children and five women, including Riana Jacobs, one of the two Muslims women in South Africa to speak publicly about their HIV status.
Almost all the women residents have been identified through the Islamic Careline, a confidential counseling service.
MAP, a non-governmental organization operating on a national, provincial and community level, is a joint project of the Jamiatul Ulama (the Council of Muslim Scholars), Islamic Careline and the Islamic Medical Association.
In what can be described as a true meaning of smart partnership, the Jamiatul Ulama attends to the residents' spiritual needs; the Islamic Careline caters for the emotional sphere through its counseling services and a monthly support group; and the Islamic Medical Association has a group of doctors on call to deal with health issues.
MAP seeks to sensitize, mobilize and equip Muslim communities to become involved in AIDS prevention, using a value-based approach.
It also hopes to mobilize and equip Muslim communities to become involved in the care and support of those infected or affected by AIDS.
MAP’s objectives also include offering AIDS education based on moral values (abstinence before marriage and faithfulness within marriage) to the broader community; and implementing a comprehensive life-skills program for Muslim youth so that they can make Islamically motivated choices for their future.
Accepted
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| Piot believes Africans' increasing openness about AIDS is helping turn the tide against the epidemic. |
The benefit of enrolling at the Care Center is that destitute women and children who are HIV positive can be cared for and feel accepted, said Nawab.
"Obviously, there's no cure for HIV, but we feel that if they live healthily in all the spheres, they'll live longer and be part of society again," she believes.
Nawab insists that the center's residents are not being stigmatized.
"The center assists in fighting stigma associated with being HIV positive by creating awareness in the community, and by treating people living with AIDS with dignity and integrity."
She added: "The Qur'an clearly states that we shouldn't judge. It teaches us to be compassionate and we are not asking them to tell us how they got the disease."
In efforts to de-stigmatize, on the Care Center’s grounds an HIV-positive couple from Soweto, South Africa’s oldest former black only township, can be seen weeding and watering the flower beds.
Africans' increasing openness about HIV/AIDS is helping turn the tide against the epidemic, Peter Piot, head of UNAIDS, said on Wednesday.
The UN official said he was seeing more Africans go public with their HIV-positive status, key to reversing the social stigma that continues to be one of the deadliest elements of Africa's AIDS crisis.
Community Efforts
MAP has been operating for over nine years, but the Care Center was opened three years ago after one of its counselors discovered that an HIV-positive woman she was counseling had been abandoned by her husband and could not find a shelter that also catered for the religious needs of herself and her son.
After the woman's death, a plea was made to the South African Muslim community to step in and assist its fellow brothers and sisters who were also being caught in the vicious cycle of the disease.
The Care Center is housed in a building donated by a Johannesburg businessman and renovated by the Muslim community.
What catches one’s attention when visiting the Care Center is the absence of some distinction from other buildings in the area.
There is no sign outside to distinguish the center from other houses.
South Africa has one of the highest HIV prevalence rate in sub-Saharan Africa, with some 5.5 million people infected with HIV.
A recent informal survey conducted by Positive Muslims, a youth organization based in the coastal town of Cape Town, shows that every doctor contacted in traditionally Muslim areas, had dealt with Muslims who were HIV positive.
One doctor who is based in Cape Town’s Walmer Estate said he was dealing with fifteen Muslim cases at present, most of them married women in the thirties and upward.
"The reality is that HIV/AIDS is here in our community and at all levels," says Positive Muslims.
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