Keep a Child Alive

Day 14 - Moses: A Child’s Spirit Broken

Moses was always the first to jump in front of the camera.  He loved to have his photo taken, and to look at his image grinning back at him a few seconds later from the little screen on the digital camera.  Just 11 years old when he came to Alive Medical Services, Moses had been surrounded by the sickness and suffering of AIDS for as long as he could remember.  His own father, and then his mother, had wasted away in front of his eyes until AIDS finally took them away for good.  Left with only an older sister to look after him who didn’t want the burden of his care, Moses still felt like he was one of the lucky ones.  Unlike his father and mother, he was on medicine for AIDS from Alive Medical Services, and he was feeling great.

Moses loved attending school, and was receiving high marks in Primary 7.  He had lots of energy to play soccer, too, because he and his sister now had help with food from AMS.  He loved to spend time at AMS where everyone knew him, joked around with him, and told him he could achieve anything in life.  He felt special and safe there, away from his sister who only wanted him to be adopted and go away.

When Moses was accepted to Standard 1, he just couldn’t believe it!  His father and mother looking down from heaven would be so proud of him, everyone at AMS would share the excitement of his great news, and even his sister and her new husband would see how hard he was working at his studies and be happy.  He would go to Standard 1, one day maybe even to University — there would be no stopping him.

On April 26th 2011, Moses died.  He was a boy of just 13 years, smart and filled with all the enthusiasm in the world to take on life – but instead, tragically, life was taken from him.  In the last few months of his life, Moses was far from the confident boy who loved to have his picture taken.  He was merely a shadow of his former self, barely recognizable to even those who knew him so well at AMS.

Although accepted to Standard 1, Moses’ sister refused to pay the small school fees for him to attend and he was made to repeat P7. This broke Moses heart! At home, he was treated badly – no one cared if he lived or died, and nothing he did could make a difference.  He fell into despair and stopped taking his ARV medicines.  Soon he was sick, wasting away to bones, and came to AMS with a terrible cough rattling his chest.  When his sister talked to the doctor at the clinic, she said that Moses was always given food to eat at home, but that she could not force him to take his medicine to stay well.  What she didn’t say is that he didn’t really have a home.  He had no love there and no one to feed his spirit when his hopes were broken; he was a burden to all – and that was his life.
 
Moses gave up on life, despite its promise for those on AIDS treatment, and despite the comprehensive surrounding care and support from a place like AMS.  He was a young boy with much more to overcome in life than AIDS, and he deserved much better from life than what it gave him.

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