Roswitha Mushova-Ndumba: building Bridges of Hope.

Roswitha Mushova-Ndumba was born in 1961 and was raised in Shighuru village in the Kavango Region. She fondly remembers as a child playing with her friends along the Kavango River. "We made animals and pots from the clay. We would jump from the trees into the river and swim. We learned to paddle the canoe and visited our grandmother across the river in Angola. We learned how to catch fish because there was a lot of fish in the river. We used to go to the fields with our mothers where they taught us how to cultivate mahangu and how to take care of the cattle. Sometimes we spent two days in a week looking after the cattle and for three days we went to school. I had a happy childhood."

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This idyllic life came to an end when her father married a second wife and went away to stay with her. "During this time my mother gave birth to twins and I had to help her with the children. This saved me from early marriage; girls in our village were married off from the age of 15 years. Later I stayed with the NG church missionaries and with their help I completed standard 5 in 1978."

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Leadership in education

A dedicated student, Roswitha was at the top of her class in both primary and secondary school. Noticing her potential, the local diocese of the Roman Catholic Church offered her a bursary to study early childhood education at Dobra College near Windhoek. In 1982, with a teaching certificate in hand, Roswitha headed back to the Kavango to begin her teaching career.

Roswitha's performance at the Bunya School in Rundu impressed the inspectors so much that they enlisted her in the founding of the new Mbambi kindergarten, where she worked for two years. After furthering her education she was transferred from Rundu to Khena to build up the Martin Ndumba Combined School for San children at the former South African army base, and became its acting principal.

"I met my Caprivian husband and married him in 1990. He paid lobola to my parents. Life with him was difficult. He was popular with everyone, particularly with girls and women. I did not know what to do to make him change. We stayed together until 1996 and then he was transferred to Rundu. I eventually transferred back to Rundu to stay close to him and took a job in teaching mathematics at Sauyemwa Combined School."

It was while she was teaching here that her health began to fail. "In 1998 I started to get seriously ill and then I resigned. At the end of the year my husband married a second wife and brought her into our home. I took my clothes and our child and left. My mother did not want me to leave him because she said that it's a man's right to have many wives, but she understood me later when she saw that the man brought the wife under the same roof as me.

When he became ill my child and I were not allowed to visit him. He died in 1999. I was told that he died from Aids. People used to talk too much and whenever I'd come across them, they would ask why I was so thin. They were even saying that I would also die soon because my husband had died. I was feeling ashamed because just imagine, you are a teacher and you are positive!"

Support from the family

The burden of the stigma became too much for Roswitha, so she left Rundu to stay with her mother in the village. From there Roswitha's health took another downward turn. She could no longer talk or eat and was admitted to the Rundu hospital. She believed she would die. With almost all hope gone, Roswitha's brother decided to take her to Windhoek. He brought her to a private doctor who tested her for HIV and discovered that she was positive. "My brother comforted me and told me that all the family was right behind me and that they would support me and my three minor children. I felt courage because he said it is better to know my status and to get treatment than to go to traditional doctors." The doctor also had good news for Roswitha. He told her that with proper care and medication, she could survive and live a long and healthy life.

With her family's emotional and financial support, Roswitha was able to afford her anti- retroviral treatment. Taking it regularly, she eventually regained her strength. By February 2001, people couldn't believe their eyes. "Why is Roswitha like this now? She had been so sick. Now she's recovered?" They came one by one to visit her. "I was open with them. I told them. I went through difficulties. I almost died, but these drugs helped me to recover. I can walk, I can do many things. I began to notice that other people had the same problem as I did, but didn't know how to help themselves."

Starting Lironga Eparu in the Kavango Region

Eventually a social worker came to visit Roswitha and linked her to the support group of Lirongo Eparu in Windhoek for people living positively with HIV and Aids. They talked about disclosing their status and struggling through their 0problems. Roswitha was inspired. "From there, I got the idea to form a support group in Rundu. The people who used to visit me were my friends. Some were married and their husbands had died. They were worried; maybe it was because of HIV. Some were orphans. With HIV there are infected and affected people and I wanted to help both." The support group began with testing. If one tested positive, she remained a member, if negative, then she became a volunteer. Eventually the group grew to over more than 100 people.

Building the Bridges of Hope

Adopting the name Kavango Bridges of Hope, the group began working on local projects including home based care training, counselling, and awareness raising. They currently run a soup kitchen that provides healthy meals for people as they wait in line to receive their medication. For those who are too sick to leave their homes, the organisation sends home based care workers to deliver their medicine and food. Today Kavango Bridges of Hope has a support group for people living with HIV and Aids in each constituency in the region. Roswitha encourages each support group to begin income generating activities such as vegetable gardening or craft production so that they can sustain their own activities, but without start-up funds this is difficult.

Calling for BIG

Speaking to New Era recently, Roswitha sent out a strong call for the immediate implementation of the Basic Income Grant for people living with HIV and Aids. She said that the majority of HIV-positive people in the region live in squalor with no proper shelter or clean drinking water.

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"People just cannot take medication on an empty stomach--their condition can even become worse. We don't know why government stopped the disability grant for some infected people," she said. Support for income-generating projects, or food-for-work projects would also be welcomed by members of the Kavango Bridges of Hope.

"Poverty is the cause of HIV and Aids as people have no choice but to go back to the streets again," Roswitha told New Era. "It is because of poverty that they get involved in irresponsible sexual behaviour to put bread on the table ... This disease is increasing in Kavango because of poverty."

Challenging harmful practices

Women from Kavango Bridges of Hope have also attended workshops on women's rights given by the Women's Leadership Centre, developing skills in writing and photography as tools for self expression. Roswitha is invested in this idea because she believes that empowering women can slow the spread of HIV and Aids. "If we women do not know our rights, we will not have courage to stand up for ourselves. I think we need outreach programmes for women in rural areas. Women need to learn how to challenge and resist harmful cultural practices that deny us the right to protect ourselves and our bodies."

Roswitha started a women's group called "Women's Rights for Change" in Rundu, to ensure that especially women who live with HIV and AIDS get to know their rights, and are able to define and solve their own problems on the basis of the National Policy on HIV and Aids just adopted by parliament. Women's Leadership Centre also trained Roswitha in advocacy and lobbying skills.

Encouraging others

Kavango Bridges of Hope is about educating, empowering and encouraging people. "I want to tell women that they have to live positively when they are positive, not only positive with HIV and Aids, but positive with everything that will come. Don't be discouraged. Don't take drugs and alcohol to reduce stress. It doesn't work. Instead take your medication regularly and try to eat healthily; involve yourself in activities like workshops, support groups, or church activities. Share your story; write it. Read books and see what other women are doing. Start an income generating activity like food production. Talk about your status. I want everyone to realise that if you have HIV you can still live a long, healthy and happy life."

Roswitha uses her own experiences with illness, stigma, marital problems and difficulties at work to counsel others. "Whatever a person's issues are, I will understand because I have been there myself. Coming to church issues, if they say that they don't believe in anti-retroviral treatment or the use of condoms, then I will go there because I am a member of the Catholic Church, and when they talk about traditional healing I tell them about my negative experiences with traditional healers. I would like to encourage people living with HIV and Aids to develop their spirituality."

Facing the future with courage

Roswitha says that it is her love for her children that keeps her strong. "I love my children and I don't want them to suffer. Even if I die, the first born must be finished with studies so that he can take care of the others. I want to live for my children and I am not thinking about death anymore. I never gave up even when I was seriously ill!"

Her dream is to see her children growing up. "I want to see my children helping each other. I also want to learn new things and travel a bit to keep myself alive. My daughter Dolly wants to become a scientist so she can find a cure for HIV. I want to see her achieving her goal. She was the only girl in her matric class who took science and I know she will make it because she is a committed girl!"

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