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In her 28 years of life,
Esnart Shachile has seen much death. About
10 years ago, her mother died; all four
siblings soon followed. Esnart does not know
if HIV/AIDS was the cause of those deaths.
But she knew enough of HIV that three years
ago, when she was five months pregnant with
her third child, she went to be tested.
Learning she was infected, she told her
husband, who also got tested and was found
positive. |
Esnart fell into depression,
crying for hours at night. Her husband "knew
he was the one who brought the disease to
me" and feared her anger. It has been
difficult to accept her status, she says;
but with help from the clinic support group,
she is trading fears that she will die for
hope that she will live. Esnart's sons – now
14, 11 and 3 – are all negative and don't
know she is HIV-positive But she talks with
them about the disease and how to stay safe
from it.
Esnart's family used to live
on one meal a day. Now, most days they have
three meals, thanks to her earnings from The
ABATAKA Collection. Esnart has bought shoes
for the children, and a refrigerator. Even
when her self-employed husband earns little
in a month, her earnings help cover the
rent. Her goals include building a house for
her children and seeing them grown.
Before, missing a front tooth
and dreading the future, Esnart seldom
smiled. Through the clinic support group and
the beading project, she got the tooth
replaced, is sustaining her health and is
earning a living. Now, she says, she smiles
everywhere she goes – and she loves the
people who support The ABATAKA Collection.
Updated
information following
a visit to Zambia in August
2010:
Esnart, still smiling with
the front tooth that she received through
the Abataka project, has struggled with
death and sadness in the past years. She
gave birth to twins in early 2009. The boy
and girl, Jacob and Mary, were thriving
healthy babies when Mary visited Zambia in
May, 2009. We took pictures of Mary holding
both babies and spent several days feeding
them formula and enjoying burping and
bouncing them. However, both babies became
very ill and were hospitalized over the
weekend. By the following Monday, both twins
had died. Esnart relied heavily on the
support of her friends from the support
group and the Abataka project to help her
through this very difficult time. She says
that she still cries when she thinks about
her little babies but she has tried to
remain strong for her other three children,
now 16, 13, and 5. Her life has had so much
pain and at 30, she has endured much more
than most of her fellow support group
members. Yet, she has been able to manage
with the income from her beading. Her
husband, who works occasionally, has been
some support but Esnart relies on her
Abataka friends to manage each day. She is a
soft spoken and remarkably introspective
young woman but the years of problems show
in her eyes. She is thankful for the
friendship of the women in the bead group
and hopes to stay involved in the beading
group for many years to come.
When you buy
jewelry from The ABATAKA
Collection you befriend African
women on a journey. With your
help, they will rise from
poverty to empowerment; from
AIDS and despair to health and
hope. |
