Once a month, Faraja Trust Fund runs a play day at their Home Based Care Center for youth living with HIV. About 50-60 children come for a stigma-free play environment as well as a cooked meal and some supplies to bring home. Older children are also given a chance to discuss HIV and learn about their disease. One goal of the program is to help inform the young adults and to help their confidence. We also took them swimming in a mountain river to give them a chance for a social outing.
My Job
For our time here, October 31st was the only Play Day that would be happening. Since we do not plan the day, our job is basically to act as support for the kids. YCI provides some toys to play with and people to play with the children. We also went to the river (The Rock Garden) with the older children and swam with them for a bit.
Challenges and Successes
By far the biggest challenge is playing with children who, according to my assumptions, have done nothing to deserve living with HIV/AIDS. Even just thinking about children with serious diseases makes me angry and upset so I was a bit worried about my emotions during the day. Most of the time I was able to just absorb myself in the games and to play with the children. When I wasn’t playing, however, I often thought about the challenges facing these children and it made me sad. I’m glad though, that I got a chance to make their lives a little more enjoyable. It’s easier for me to deal with it by thinking that it’s about quality of life, not quantity.
I had also been worried that I might be afraid to play with the children or that a freak accident would end up with me getting infected. I don’t feel happy that I felt that, but I am being honest (maybe something I shouldn’t be doing in a blog). Those worries quickly disappeared when it came time to play though. I took several pictures of the children (though not so many of them swimming since, being poor, many were not wearing more than their birthday suits) playing which are here below.
Pictures: 1) Micah (YCI Country Manager) helping some children skip rope. 2) Me and some children relaxing for a bit. 3) Gasto and Godfrey leading the older children in a team-building activity (I think it was the human knot). 4) Several children colouring and playing on the mat. You can see some of the caregivers in the back. 5) Some children I was throwing a ball with. They really like the camera. 6) Godfrey talking to the older children. 7) Some of the children with the sodas we provided. 8) The pools where some of the children swam and played.
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