World AIDS Day: Remember Khadija and Lela

Danielle with Lela (right) and Khadija (left)

Today commemorates World AIDS Day.  Almost 30 years after AIDS erupted into a global epidemic, the fight against HIV/AIDS continues and young volunteers in communities around the world are leading the charge to promote awareness and prevention,

I have firsthand witnessed how AIDS affects communities and families, having served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Kenya from May 2007 until August 2009. Working in the Public Health Sector, I was partnered with an organization called SOLWODI, where I managed and trained 25 women to serve as community health workers and Peer Educators to educate their communities and colleagues on public health issues. It is through one of my Peer Educators that I came to know and love two beautiful girls, Khadija and Lela, who showed me the true face of AIDS and the plight of those orphaned by the disease. I had a front row seat to the plight of two little girls, living in the most extreme poverty while slowly and painfully withering away to their deaths as a result of the severe toll HIV/AIDS had on their family. And I was witness to the spirit and strength of a young man who made it his personal mission to fight alongside me for the survival of these girls. The excerpts below are from my personal blog and tell the story of Khadija and Lela.

Today one of my Peer Educators called me to ask for advice on how to proceed with a case regarding her neighbors. Cheeky Anne, as I like to call her, told me about two of her neighbors who she suspected were HIV positive and at the end of a losing battle with full-blown AIDS. She told me that they were two little girls who lived in a two room mud house, and that they had no food or clean drinking water, slept on the dirt floor each night, and looked as if they needed home based care. Sensing the concern in her voice, I asked her to take me to her neighbor’s house. Upon our arrival, I realized that nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to witness.

Squalid. Cramped. Filthy. Destitute. Impoverished. Unsanitary. The house is cluttered and dark, as water drips onto the dirt floor through holes in the coconut leaf roof. Vegetable scraps litter the ground, swarmed by ants, while cockroaches scamper up the mud-brick walls. And in the corner, barely visible, are two skeletons of what should be two little girls.  These two girls are Khadija, seven years old, and her little sister Lela, three years old.  They are dressed in clothes that look like they have been put through a meat grinder and have been washed in mud. They are gaunt, they are emaciated, and they look like they are going to die.

Khadija's condition when Danielle first met her.

Both look like they are suffering from muscular dystrophy, with their arms and legs so thin and frail, and both have white spots on their scalps, a clear sign of ring worm.  Their skin is discolored and peeling, maybe a sign of scabies or maybe just as a result of the severe malnutrition. And above all, they both have this look of resignation in their eyes, resignation that no one cares about them and that there is no hope for them.

Their grandmother tells me how the father of these two little girls died of AIDS a little over a year ago.  How their mother is also HIV positive and abandoned the family.  How she, the grandmother, lost her own husband three years ago and can barely feed herself, let alone Khadija and Lela. Two of her grown daughters and a cousin live in the cramped quarters, along with their children, and none of the women have proper jobs.  They do odd jobs around the village, cooking and cleaning to supplement their meager income.  

I decided to call my friend Gabriel, a Peer Educator who works on issues of child labor and exploitation and has many connections within the police and the District Children's Office. My thoughts were that if I shared the case with him, maybe we could find a way to get the girls immediate medical attention and assistance. When he arrived, all I could do was stare at his face. Gabriel looks like he is about to cry, tears forming in the corners of his eyes and a look of determination and resolve building on his face. I have known him long enough to know when he is about to become someone's angel. His name is most appropriate, as he has probably saved dozens of children from child labor, sexual exploitation, and horrible homes single-handedly. He is a true hero, a champion for the rights and protection of children. Gabriel talks to the grandmother, firing off dozens of questions.

Lela's condition when Danielle first met her

Who cares for the children? Where are their parents? What do you feed them? Do they go to school? When was the last time they ate properly? Why do the other children in the house look well fed and appear to be growing at an average rate? Have they ever been to the dispensary/clinic to be seen by a doctor? Do you know their HIV status? Have you looked for help or were you just hoping they would get better overnight? Were you just waiting for them to die?

Over the next 24 hours, Gabriel and I spoke to every staff member at the District Children’s Office, trying to find them a place in a children’s home. We finally found a place that agreed to take both girls and pay for their medical expenses.  The girls spent the next two weeks in the hospital, undergoing numerous tests and observations, and were placed on a special high energy and protein diet. Neither of them tested positive for HIV but they were both suffering from severe malnutrition and numerous infections as a result of their poor condition. Upon release, they left for their new home where they began a new, happier chapter in their life. They will never have to worry about going hungry again or having to sleep on dirt floors, and they will have the chance to attend school and be real children.

This World AIDS Day, remember Khadija, Lela, and children all around the world who are affected by HIV/AIDS, and volunteers like Gabriel who have joined the ongoing battle against the disease. To learn how you can play a part in combating HIV/AIDS, visit UNICEF's Voices of Youth and Face AIDS and find out how youth around the world are leading the fight.