Mary Moleko is a retired palliative nurse and full...

Mary Moleko is a retired palliative nurse and full time Priest in Saint Martin's Anglican Church in Edendale KwaZulu-Natal South Africa. She is involved with the Spiritual aspects of the dead, and physical well-being of those still living in her parish. The Edendale Hospital struggles with a backlog of about 2000 people waiting to enrol on the ARV program, with road side protests to this effect. The compounded challenges of dealing with patients with both TB and AIDS means that there is a complex crisis when treating Edendale's sick, often the one illness must be treated first and the other must wait, often the medication is not taken as prescribed or the patient's cd4 count is just not low enough yet to get onto the program. Often there is just no food in the home with which to take the medication in the first place. The stigma of HIV AIDS will cause women like Auntie Ningi to die from a "head ache" when family members are asked, close friends will whisper that it was the usual suspect. Others in the community will spend their days coughing up microbes in dirty earth floored mud dwellings. They might lie in a bed in a drop in centre that is little more then a roof and a meal, or sit watching soap operas on the television set where everything is sorted out in the end - If they can spare the time to watch, and these people can. These people are not well enough to be productive and, some not sick enough yet to get the ARVs that will prolong their lives. It is people like Mary and others who just do what they can and when it is over ensure that the deceased will at least pass to the here after with as much dignity as is possible. 30 JULY 2009 PIETERMARITZBURG SOUTH AFRICA PHOTO/JOHN ROBINSON