'Peak of the week'

Bea taking a patient's blood pressure in their home.

Current 'Medical Outreach and HIV Education' volunteers Bea and Jess have put together a blog detailing their experience on the project. Check out their first impressions of the project and hear them recount their highlights. 

Being on the medical project is often challenging as you meet people who have many difficulties in life. We have met people too weak to get out of bed, people who worry about not making it through the month because they don’t have enough money, people who are battling HIV or AIDS and seeing the condition they are in has at times made us afraid we won’t meet them many more times. Every day we meet someone who is in need of a lot of help and it can at times be very frustrating because you want to do everything for them, but unfortunately that’s not always possible.

However, we always try our best. We might not be able to do everything but with African Impact we can do something, whether it’s handing out nutritional drinks, medicine, dropping someone of at the clinic or cleaning a wound. Nothing beats the feeling of visiting a very sick patient sitting there talking for a while to keep them company, and as we leave hear them say that we are “giving them the hope to keep on fighting”.

All we do is important for the community and we are happy to help in any way, but there are a few moments that stand out as extra special for both of us. We thought we would share those with you and each write a “peak of our medical weeks”.

Beatrice’s peak
My peak has without a doubt been when we visited a man who is on the Home Based Care project. He has AIDS and is very skinny and weak, and he spends most of his days in bed unable to walk because it hurts his legs. On one of our visits he said he wished he had crutches and the next time we saw him, we made sure to bring some for him. 

Even though he is always smiling (something I admire among the people we meet given the condition they are in) his face lit up even more when he saw the crutches and he couldn’t stop thanking us. The way he looked at them was as if I had just given him one million dollars – he was incredibly happy and thankful. I couldn’t stop smiling as I saw how happy we made him and that moment will stick with me forever.

Jess recording the measurement of a young patient's
bicep on our nutrition programme.

Jessica’s peak

A meeting with a man and his mother on the Home Based Care project this week affected me deeply. The man, sick with AIDS and a bad cough, was lying under several blankets in the corner while his mother was talking to us. She was visibly upset about his condition and she explained to us that she feared for her son’s life. 

She was crying when she said that it was African Impact’s work and visits that gave her hope and made her keep on going. I felt really proud in that moment. I felt proud to be able to be a part of this project and help her and her son, and her words made it clear to me that we actually do make a difference.