A number of parents, after having found out that they are HIV positive, have come up and offered their help to community projects - while there is still time. There may not be much we can do about the adults - so many people are infected, sometimes I am afraid that whole villages will just die. But the children are the future. If we can keep them safe, if we can help them to grow up into responsible and caring adults, then maybe things will turn for the better. The cultural difference which she found most difficult to bridge was the position of women.
Women here are very vulnerable - more so than in West Africa.
And being so dependent, they cannot stand up and defend themselves if they feel they are being wronged against or exploited. That is what makes even young girls so susceptible to pregnancy and also HIV infection. In Ghana where I come from, women have more power, and they are often economically independent. In fact, their husbands respect them more for that. So I have tried to talk with the women here, and say that you can never rely on somebody to look after you - anything can happen, especially with this disease which is among us.