Carla’s guest entry

The view from here… 

The research project is humming right along.  I spend time each week in different hospices around the Western Cape.  I am always touched by how the staff I talk to are filled with laughter, which is amazing given the tragedies they see on such a regular basis.  One part of the project involves face-to-face interviews and those are going very well, proceeding much better than expected.  I had hoped to interview about 30 people and have already completed 18.  However, the list of participants is still long and so I'm a long way from completion.  My very able research assistant, Kate, often conducts interviews as well and that means we can collect more data at each visit.  Steve and Harrison come to almost all of the hospice visits which removes the stress of driving.  While we spend time in interviews, they explore the towns (making time for frequent coffee breaks) and take pictures.  Surveys will be mailed shortly so that will keep me busy doing data entry and analysis.   

So what have I been learning?  Much of what I hear mirrors the literature but the words take on different meaning when they come directly from patients or health care providers.  Education, stigma, and empowerment are words frequently heard: in order to provide communities a voice, there needs to be education about HIV.  One story from a nursing sister made me shiver.  She said that even if two people knew they had HIV/AIDS, they would not talk about it between themselves or let on to other people.  Even, she said, if one of the people had multiple partners, the "friend" would be bound be social customs to remain quiet.  To make the point perfectly clear, she said that even if one of the people was sleeping with the other's sibling, nothing would be said.  Very scary. 

The same sister talked about how the power to change lies with the children; many adults are too affected by racial issues rooted in apartheid to be able to accept help from white people.  Even the light colour of pills prescribed by Western practitioners can be a negative sign to people—traditional medicines are typically much darker.  So the work continues and joy can be found even within difficulties of life and death. 

I am loving the research and meeting people from all walks of life.  And really, I feel so fortunate to be given this opportunity.