Critical health care, provided through World Vision sponsorship, is helping this young girl in Haiti overcome the worries and stigma associated with HIV.

January 2009

By Andrea Peer and Jessie Lester, World Vision U.S.

To watch her playing with other children, it is hard to believe that 10-year-old Marie* is HIV-positive. She is content, active, and shows little sign of infection. But this young girl and her great-grandmother, whom she calls “Mama,” know all too well the extra work and precautions that it takes to keep Marie so healthy.

Fighting HIV

Marie has seen first-hand what happens when HIV goes untreated. As a young girl, she watched her mother grow ill and die of AIDS-related symptoms. “She is dead, but I don’t remember when she died,” says Marie, who has been living with her 80-year-old great-grandmother ever since. Marie's older brother lives across town with their grandma, and Marie only gets to see him when they stop by on the way to the hospital.

Proper treatment for Marie involves regular visits to Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital city on the main island. At the hospital there, she can receive HIV-specific care, including shots. Yet transportation from their remote island home costs money, and Marie's great-grandmother, who earns a meager living selling fried pork in the market, can barely provide food. On her own, she would be unable to help her granddaughter fight HIV.

Critical assistance

But thankfully, Marie and her great-grandmother do not have to shoulder these burdens on their own. World Vision is committed to assisting orphans like Marie, particularly those affected by AIDS. Two years ago, staff at a World Vision-run clinic diagnosed Marie's HIV-positive status. Marie was matched with a sponsor, whose monthly gifts provide her with educational assistance, basic necessities, and critical health care. Now, World Vision covers the cost of her transportation to Port-au-Prince, so that she can receive her shots.

Though Marie dislikes the shots, which are frightening and painful, she knows that they have made a difference in her health. “I was sick before taking the shots,” she recalls. But shots are not the only thing that has made a difference for Marie. World Vision caretakers, who regularly visit Marie's home and provide her with medicine at the nearby clinic, have also had a profound impact on her life.

Taking precautions

World Vision gives Marie monthly food supplies and makes sure that she is getting a nutritious diet. At the clinic, Marie and her great-grandmother were trained on the proper way to clean her sores so that they won't become infected. “They talk to my mama. They tell her to wash me with warm water and to wash my clothes in warm water,” says Marie.

The nurses have also told Marie not to play in the dirt, which increases her risk of getting sores. “When the sores come out, we work really fast so that it doesn't raise concerns or questions,” says Anne, a nurse who has become Marie's close friend. Anne is careful to conceal Marie's HIV status because of the stigma that is often associated with the disease. “If people knew, maybe we wouldn't see her playing with other kids as much,” she says.

Enjoying childhood

But because of the careful care Marie receives, she is not only fighting HIV, she is also overcoming the stigma that would keep her from actively participating in her community. Marie enjoys attending church and playing with her cousins and friends from school. She has also made new friends, including the nurses at the clinic and her sponsors, who send her letters and pictures.

Unhindered by illness, Marie is able to take pleasure in simple things, like helping her grandmother cook rice and beans. Someday, she hopes to become an even better cook. “I would like to know how to cook. That’s all I can think of,” she says. Thanks to World Vision and the generosity of her sponsor, Marie is not burdened by worries about food or HIV. Instead, she is healthy enough to look to the future with hope.

*Name was changed to protect the child's identity because of her HIV status.