A day in the life of treatment support workers and treatment mobilisers
Paul Yengwe, Treatment Mobiliser, Ndola
I just want to take some time to describe my experience of life as a treatment mobiliser based in Ndola.
After being recruited and having gone through some skills building, we were immediately moved to Ndola for the site preparedness. This was not very easy at first because I had to leave the family behind and move to a new place. The community of Nkwazi were not very welcoming at first. There were a lot of concerns that there have been so many non-governmental organisations coming to the area to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS but no fruits have been seen.
"It was very challenging for me even to start organising a meeting with the community to explain or discuss with them our aims and objectives for coming to the area. All the same, I didn’t lose hope and continued to make arrangements for focus group discussions until we got started.
One impact or effect of this job as a treatment mobiliser has been that the relocation has affected the performance of my school-age children due to language and changing places.
The other thing is that I’m not only able to share my personal experiences with others but also I can learn from them and the kind of life they are living. Community members also find it easy to discuss HIV/AIDS issues with me because they know my status. They know that they can talk confidentially, since there was a lot of stigma in the community.
This has also helped me to gain more courage and strength since I am accepted. I am treated as their role model who keeps their dreams alive. People feel more comfortable talking with from someone who has experienced what they are going through than any other person because it brings a lot of hope and confidence.
The ACER referral system has been recognised by other non-governmental and community-based organisations and other service providers within and outside Nkwazi. In the community, there were three support groups of people living with HIV/AIDS that used to do activities individually. But thanks to the introduction of the ACER project, there is unity and they are able to work together. Now another support group for those on anti-retroviral therapy has been formed."
