South African Mothers visit White House
Washington, D.C.: First Lady, Laura Bush, was so impressed by the remarkable mothers she met living positively with HIV in Cape Town last year, she invited the moms for tea and brunch at the White House. Six South African women from the Mothers to Mothers-To-Be project that USAID supports with President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funding accepted the First Lady’s invitation and spent a week in America in March.
Mrs. Bush said at the White House reception for the mothers, “When I was in South Africa, I visited a Mothers-To-Be clinic in a township called Khayelitsha, which means ‘new home’. South African women who are pregnant and HIV-positive have found a new home of sorts in the Mothers to Mothers-To-Be program at the Khayelitsha Maternity Unit….I met the unit's senior site coordinator, Babalwa Mbono.”
Mbono told how she learned she was HIV positive in 2002. Married and pregnant with her second child, Mbono tested for HIV. She now manages her HIV infection with help from Mothers to Mothers-To-Be, and she has a beautiful, healthy baby who is HIV-negative. Today she uses her experience to help change the lives of HIV-positive mothers-to-be who seek comfort and courage during their pregnancies.
The First Lady said, “Mothers to Mothers help mend broken hearts following a diagnosis of HIV infection. Pregnant women learn how to live well in spite of infection. Once they learn to live with HIV, they can fulfill their dreams of seeing their children grow up healthy and strong. The program helps break the stigma of HIV and AIDS by teaching, training and befriending the expectant mothers who have tested positive.”
HIV/AIDS is a crisis of epidemic proportions that hits African women and children the hardest. In South Africa, 370,000 people die from AIDS each year and millions of orphans are left behind.
Beyond hospitality, Mrs. Bush structured important meetings for the mothers with health and educational professionals in the United States, including a symposium at Georgetown University and visits to USAID and other agencies and institutions involved in HIV and AIDS research, education, prevention, treatment, and care.
USAID South Africa’s Senior Technical Advisor for HIV/AIDS, Dr. Melinda Wilson, accompanied the mothers to the States and arranged special briefings at USAID’s Washington premises. “I’m so proud of how brave these mothers are,” said Dr. Wilson. “We will never forget one moment of our time spent at the White House hosted by the First lady.”
In the last two years, PEPFAR has provided $238.7 million to South Africa. President' Bush’s 2006 budget includes an additional $221.5 million. Mothers-to-Mothers benefits from this partnership, as do many other organizations.
