Meghan Markle inspired by work of mothers living with HIV
The Cape Town-based NGO, Mothers2Mothers (M2M) trains and employs local women living with HIV as community health workers called ‘Mentor Mothers’.
Several mothers living with HIV and their toddlers had discussions with the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle on Wednesday.
“My friends and I just brought some little things. It’s so important to be able to share from our families to yours,” said Markle as she handed the mothers a big bag filled with baby clothes.
#RoyalVisitSouthAfrica It's time to play! Her Royal Highness invites other mothers to the floor for their kids to play with the toys. #RoyalVisitAfrica pic.twitter.com/OxPkBTBSKn
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) September 25, 2019
Limpho Nteko, a supervisor for M2M in Lesotho, relayed her story to Markle.
Nteko was 19-years-old when she married a man 7 years older. She lost the child when she was just three weeks old.
Nteko tearfully told how she couldn’t deal with the diagnoses, felt ashamed and wanted to take her own life.
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“I wanted to shut down,” she said.
A couple of years later she fell pregnant again, and met a Mentor Mother at the clinic she was visiting.
“They made me believe again. Being HIV positive is not a death sentence.”
Both of her children are HIV-free.
More than 894 837 are clients of the initiative with more than 1 500 women employed.
At least 30 775 children and caregivers benefitted from M2M’s intergraded Early Childhood Development (ECD) services.
The organization operates in 217 health faculties across Africa including Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique.
Adolescent girls and young women are now bearing the brunt of the HIV epidemic. More than 289 500 young adults have been enrolled.