The Sponsored Children – After SPM…

When we first started our Education Sponsorship for Children programme back in 2008, our main objective was to make sure the children of our HIV infected/affected families are not deprived of basic education at least, no matter what their parents have to go through. So the sponsorship was to help them get through schooling up to form 5 at least or form 6 at most. Since we depend on the public to support us in this cause, we figured getting these children go through school was fair enough.

From  children sponsored in 2008, now the number has increased to 33. And last year, for the first time, we had 5 of our sponsored children who sat for their SPM.

So where are these 5 children headed to after their SPM? Do they continue their studies or do they start working life at a young age, based only on their SPM?

One has gone to report to a matriculation college last week.

Two has decided to continue with form 6.

One is arranging to apply for a place at a polytechnic (she missed the earlier deadline for application via UPU but went to the polytechnic personally and was told she could still apply directly through the polytechnic website).

The last one got a place to do a skill training course for 2 years. Once he completes the course, he can use the cert to further his skill training programme at a higher level.

So… YAYYYY!! All of them are not stopping at SPM. Given the fact they come from poor families, that in itself is an achievement, especially when one of them had already mentioned earlier that he planned to start working immediately after SPM to help ease his family’s burden.

I had always reminded them about the importance of education for their future, or at least get a skill cert based on their field of interest, so that they will have something more than just SPM to support their job applications later on.

I am so glad they took the advise. Good luck kids! May the future be brighter for your families…

 

Yesterday’s cases…

Yesterday was my second clinic duty for the year at Taiping Hospital. Since we only send our volunteers once a month to Taiping for clinic duty, and we have 3 teams, our turn would come once every 3 months. For Ipoh clinic, I’d usually go every 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month.

The other 2 teams have 2 volunteers in each team, while for my team I cater for any trainee volunteers who’d like to join me. Yesterday however, I was alone. The moment I got to MOPD, I went straight to the doctor’s room to inform the nurse I was already there and to enquire if there were any cases to be referred. According to the nurse there were quite a few cases.

I waited at the praying room cum makeshift counselling room, located just behind the doctor’s room. Wasn’t bothered to get chairs, so I just sat on the carpet, with my netbook on lap, surfing the internet while waiting for the cases to be referred.

After a while, the nurse brought in a new case – a skinny looking guy, in his late thirties. Looking at his name which was quite unique, I remembered he used to call me before, seeking financial help. Another PLHIV gave him my number and told him to ask me if we Buddies could offer financial help. But our funds are more for children education, and since this guy was unmarried, there wasn’t much I could offer him but choices of where he could seek help from.

I was quite surprised when his case was referred to me as a new case. All the while, when he called (I think it was some time last year or the year before), I thought he had already gone for appointments at the HIV clinic. Apparently he only went to a nearby Klinik Kesihatan for his methadone fix, not HIV treatment. He now rents a room at RM150 per month, and works from midnight to early morning, processing chicken. Pay is based on hourly basis. However of late, he had been feeling rather weak, and so had been missing from work for almost 2 weeks.

The next case referred was that of Rogayah, a 52 year old lady. 2 young ladies, aged around late teens to early twenties, came along with her. They were her children, accompanying her to the hospital.

Rogayah has 7 children, all from her first marriage. When her first husband died, she then remarried. The 2nd husband died about 4 years ago of TB. Apparently, when the 2nd husband died, Rogayah and her children were tested for TB, all turned out negative. I’m not really sure if the husband was diagnosed HIV+, or if he ever got tested for HIV. But when he died, Rogayah was not tested for HIV.

That was until about 2 or 3 months ago, when Rogayah was warded for TB. Tests were done and she was found to be HIV positive. I looked through the file, and noticed that her CD4 was already very low, while her viral load was very very high. Rogayah herself seemed to be strong at heart… or maybe she was trying to be strong for her children. As I explained things to them, I could see tears in the eyes of her daughters. I am glad however that the daughters seemed to be very very supportive of their mother. They have to be strong for their mother as well.

As I went to the doctor’s room to return Rogayah’s medical file, the doctor immediately told me that Maznah, the young lady I went to visit earlier this month at a squatter area, had already given birth to a baby boy. Remember Maznah? I posted her story here. She’s supposed to deliver in July, but last week, when she kept on vomiting every time she ate anything, even her meds, she was warded again. And she ended up having to deliver the baby, prematurely.

Maznah had already been discharged from the hospital, but since the doctor at the HIV clinic wanted to see her, arrangements were made for the ambulance to fetch her from home and bring her for her appointment. So yes, I still got to see Maznah yesterday. Her baby was still at the hospital for observation, given his premature condition.

Guess who came to the hospital with Maznah? Her boyfriend… the father of the baby she just delivered. Has he been tested for HIV? Errrmmm…. he doesn’t even know Maznah has HIV. So isn’t he going to be tested? Well, according to Maznah, the plan was to get his blood sample under the pretext that they needed blood for the baby and so they needed to get his blood tested. Maznah was afraid he may leave her just like that without even getting himself tested if he knew Maznah was HIV+.

Oh well, I think I shall let the doctor take care of that part.

Another PLHIV was supposed to see me yesterday. Someone from Ipoh, who is already a client of Buddies, told me that a friend of his in Taiping wanted to register under Buddies and was interested to join us for the Family Day. I told him to get his friend to see me in Taiping during my clinic duty. He didn’t turn up until 1 pm.

The nurse on duty also asked if a friend of hers working nearby, who’s also a PLHIV, wanted to see me as well. He too, didn’t turn up until 1 pm.

Then I figured out, based on the name given, the guy mentioned by the client and the guy mentioned by the nurse must be the same person. He was the one who wanted to see me, but he was the one who didn’t turn up. I couldn’t wait too long at the makeshift counselling room since the room is actually a praying room. The staff there would want to use the room during lunch break for their prayers…

 

The short weekend break…

Let the pictures do the talking…

 

Visiting Jayanthi

When I went to the doctor’s room to inform the nurses that I was leaving after my clinic duty on Wednesday, the doctor, who was talking on the phone then, signalled to me to wait a while. She wanted to speak to me about Jayanthi. This wasn’t a new case, she had been a client of Buddies for a few years already, assigned under a Tamil-speaking volunteer.

The doctor wanted me to re-assess her case as her children needed help and the doc knows we do give financial assistance for the children’s education. Jayanthi’s condition had worsened, and it was her mother, now the breadwinner for the family, who sought assistance for her grandchildren. She did tell the doctor that the children do get some sort of assistance from the school, but the doc wasn’t too sure what kind of help they were getting.

Jayanthi had been one of those non-compliant cases – always defaulting her appointments. She was first diagnosed positive after she gave birth to her youngest son 6 years ago. Her son too, apparently was tested positive, but Jayanthi never brought him for further tests or check-ups. The paediatrician handling the case had even sent his team to look for them at home, but she was never home.

That was until recently when Jayanthi’s condition worsened. Like it or not, she was in and out of the hospital so often for various illnesses. So now she’s back on ARV medication. She’s still too weak to work, and now stays with her mother at her mother’s house.

I immediately informed the volunteer handling the case to follow up on Jayanthi and find out what kind of assistance they need. I was more concerned about the children’s educational needs.

Yesterday, a call came in on my phone from an unfamiliar number. The lady who called said she got my number from the doctor and told me that her family needed help. Luckily the doctor had already informed me about this case and so it didn’t take me too long to figure out who called. The lady who called was Jayanthi’s mother. When I mentioned the name of the volunteer in charge, she said it had been more than a year since he called or visited. When I said I’d remind the volunteer to visit and assess the family’s situation, the lady kept on telling me about her worries… she’s getting old, her daughter’s unwell… what would happen to her grandchildren…

Finally when I said I’d visit her myself, she sounded happier and kept on saying thank you. Since I was free the next day (that’s today, Friday), I immediately arranged with the assigned volunteer to visit together.

So this afternoon, I went to our center to fetch the assigned volunteer. When asked if he remembered how to get to the house, he confidently said the house was easy to find, not far off from the main road, so he said.

The moment we got into the housing area, he began to get confused, thus confusing me as well. Suddenly the excuse was that he usually came by motorbike and so he got confused. Duh! By car or motorbike, we had to go through the same route! And then when we finally found the right street, and he said it was house number 2. So I stopped at house number 2, asked him if that was the house, and he confidently said yes. Then the occupant came out, and when we asked, didn’t even know who Jayanthi was. Wrong house!

Then I called Jayanthi’s mother, asking for the address. The line wasn’t clear, and so “dua puluh enam” sounded more like “nombor 6”. So we went to house number 6 and I asked the assigned volunteer if that was the house. Again, he confidently said yes. “Sure?” I asked. “Yes, very sure,” he said. Out came the occupant…. wrong house again. Whoa! I think my late grandma was better at this… even though she may not know the way to a house that she had been to, at least once we got to the house, she’d know for certain whether or not it’s the right house!

When I asked if he couldn’t even remember if the house looked familiar, he said all the houses looked the same. We finally called Jayanthi’s mother again, and finally we got Jayanthi’s house. The house looked TOTALLY different than the 2 wrong houses we got earlier! And he claimed he used to visit once every 2 months. Sigh…

Anyway, Jayanthi’s mother was not back from work yet but Jayanthi and all her 4 sons were home. Just as we were to get inside the gate, the dog was barking furiously. The dog was tied, but still, Jayanthi got one of her sons to hold on to the dog. The dog calmed down as soon as we got into the house and out of his sight.

Jayanthi has 4 kids, all boys, age ranging from 6 to 11. The 3 older ones go to a Chinese school. The school it seems, does help out quite a lot. They help to pay for the children’s fees and workbooks. The only educational needs they had to pay on their own were their uniforms and transport to go to school. We should be able to cover for their uniforms and transportation to school.

When we asked for her bank account number, she told us her bank book and ATM card are being held by a money-lender. Apparently when her husband died, she got desperate and borrowed some money from a money-lender. She had to let the money lender hold her bank book and ATM card as guarantee.

Jayanthi had been getting welfare aid for her children for a few years already. The money goes into the bank account – the same one held by the money lender. So the money lender would withdraw the money, takes half and hands over the other half only after he had taken his share. Am not sure if the amount taken was part payment for the loan, or just for the interest.

So nope, giving her the financial assistance for the children’s transportation to school through the same bank account is out of the question. I was initially thinking of giving the monthly assistance through her mother’s bank account when she suddenly mentioned she does have an account in another bank. Initially she thought we would require an account in a particular bank, but when I mentioned it didn’t matter which bank, she finally gave me the number of her other bank account.

We then asked about her HIV+ son and was surprised when she told us that the positive child was actually the 11 year old boy, the eldest. Previously the older boys were never tested. They finally got tested 2 years ago and that was when the eldest boy was found to be positive. When we asked about the youngest son, Jayanthi said the boy “no longer has HIV”. It’s the eldest son who now needs to take ARV, not the youngest.

Huh? Well, I think we’d need to check with the doctor handling the child’s case….

Another positive child

I was assigned to a new client last week – Amy, a 19 year old unwed pregnant girl. On Friday, I called the number given and managed to speak to the sister, the one Amy is staying with. Amy’s boyfriend left her when he found out that she’s HIV positive while his test results came out negative.

According to the sister, the family has no problem accepting Amy and her baby. So basically, it didn’t seem to be too complicated a problem. However, she had yet to start on her ARV medication, and was supposed to go back to the hospital for an appointment with the doctor on Tuesday (today) so they could get her started on the ARV.

Although my clinic duty will be on Wednesday, when Amy’s sister told me that Amy would be going to the hospital on Tuesday, I figured I might as well meet up with Amy face to face so I could assess her case better.

So yes, this morning I went to the hospital just to meet up with Amy. The nurses were surprised to see me, they weren’t expecting me until Wednesday. But when I told them I wanted to see Amy, they confirmed that yes, Amy was supposed to come but was not there yet.

While waiting, I had a chat with SN. SN then informed me about another case needing attention. According to her, the case had already been referred to Buddies last month (I wasn’t on duty then) but so far I have not heard of her case. New cases would have been brought up during our monthly board meetings, but nope, I have not heard about her case before.

SN mentioned that Ain, the patient she was talking about, is a young single mother, never married, And she has a child who has been confirmed HIV+.

Apparently during her pregnancy, Ain never went for any check-ups at the clinics or hospitals. She only went to the hospital when she was about to deliver, immediately sent to the labour room, and delivered a baby girl. Since nobody, not even herself, knew she was HIV+, no precautions were taken to protect the child from being infected. It was only after the delivery that her blood was tested and was found to be positive. And eventual tests showed that the child too had not been spared.

After delivery, Ain came back to Perak to stay with her mother. Then only both she and her child were referred to the hospital for further treatment. The problem was, after more than five months, the child still didn’t have a birth cert. SN herself didn’t quite know what the problem was.

Since I was already at the hospital and Ain was there for her appointment, SN got Ain to see me first to see how I could help out if needed.

Ain came in the room with her young mother (I think the mother may be in her early 40’s), and her 9 month old baby girl. I asked about the birth cert problem and was relieved to find out that they had finally submitted the necessary documents to JPN and their application is already being processed. Ain even showed me the acknowledgement letter.

Ah well, at least that is done now and so I don’t have to worry about the child’s birth cert anymore. Once the birth cert is obtained, then only financial assistance can be arranged for the child. Since the child herself is positive, she should be able to apply for monthly assistance from MAF’s Paediatric Aids Funds.

I gave Ain my name and number so she could call me if need be.

And what happened to Amy? SN called up the sister to find out if Amy was coming, and was told that Amy had gone to Seremban to a relative’s house. WHAT? When she knew way before hand that her appointment was TODAY??

Aiyo, I think we have a very likely non-compliant case in our hands. Our main concern now is… what will become of the baby if no proper care and precaution is taken? We don’t want to end up having another HIV positive child like Ain’s do we?