A Mother & Child Community Development Initiative Chilenje, Zambia

Project Background

Responding to the dire life situations facing women in Chilenje, Zambia.

The Hestia Foundation Trustees first visited the Chilenje Clinic and Health Compound in 2004. Chilenje is a suburb of Lusaka the capital city of Zambia. There are approximately 200 babies a month delivered in this clinic. There are nine clinics, similar to Chilenje, around Lusaka and six smaller clinics that do not have birthing facilities. The Chilenje Clinic has a catchment population of 82,000. As is true throughout the Zambian population a very high percentage of the women and babies using this clinic are HIV positive.

During this initial Hestia visit vital insight was gained by the Hestia Trustees into the tragic path the epidemic of HIV/AIDS has taken in Zambia. Zambian men are very much in the dominant position in relationships, this dominant male tradition appears unassailable and plays a vital role in the spread of HIV in the country. It also gives rise to the extreme social stigma suffered by women who are known to be HIV positive. When a woman is tested HIV positive she becomes very vulnerable to a range of negative responses from her spouse, her family, and from society in general. It is perceived that a married woman who is HIV positive has engaged in promiscuous behavior which has resulted in her becoming infected. The man responsible for infecting her (usually her husband) is not perceived as being the possible source of infection. It, therefore, requires great courage for women to come forward for HIV testing. If a woman comes forward and tests positive for the disease she will often keep this information to herself, and possibly from her husband, parents and family. This situation causes terrible emotional hardship for women as they must bear even the knowledge of their life threatening disease in isolation and fear.

 

Our Project

Once the Hestia Trustees had come to understand the dire life situations facing women in Chilenje (and indeed throughout Zambia) they wished to respond with Hestia support. We met with a group of women who were using the services of the clinic at Chilenje. This first courageous group of women prioritised their urgent needs for the trustees. The aims of the CWCG Project (Chilenje Women & Child Group) grew from this original needs list.

 

 

 

An Outstanding Commitment to Care

Appropriate and sustainable support is one of the governing principles of the Hestia Foundation.

The intensity of support could not have been attained by Hestia in Zambia without the help of the following key individuals and institutions:

CWCG funded through the Hestia Charitable Foundation
UK Registered Charity 1095957

Hestia would like to note with thanks the generous support of the RLPF Foundation, USA