Hi, it’s Kat again, the 2016 UP 4 THE FIGHT Top Fundraiser. I can’t believe it has been over a month since my trip to Harare, Zimbabwe with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF)! Before I left, I was unsure of what to expect. I had no idea what the people, the clinics, the country would be like. When I arrived, I quickly realized that it would be a life-changing experience.
Being a part of the Pediatric AIDS Coalition (PAC) at UCLA, I knew statistics. I knew the number of HIV-positive babies born each day, I knew that sub-Saharan Africa has the highest HIV rates in the world, I knew the majority of the funds raised from Dance Marathon support EGPAF, but it wasn’t until this adventure to Zimbabwe that I really understood what it all meant.
After sitting on various airplanes for as long as I danced in UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion last May, finally stepping off the last plane into the night air of Harare felt like both a sigh of relief and a jolt of excitement.
My first morning at the EGPAF-Zimbabwe country office was incredible. I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting with the Zimbabwe team and hear about current work they are doing and the progress being made. In return, I described what Dance Marathon is and how it supports the work being done by EGPAF. Understandably, “I danced for 26 hours,” was met with some skeptical looks.
What I was blown away by was that Zimbabwe’s mother-to-child transmission rate has been reduced to 6.7%. That is absolutely amazing! While at the office, I also had the opportunity to be interviewed by a local reporter and a fast-talking radio host. When speaking with the radio host, I became increasingly aware of how often I was saying the word “education.”
Many of the host’s questions were related to how stigma can be reduced in Zimbabwe and our conversation kept returning to education. I kept stressing the importance of teaching the various communities about HIV/AIDS and how that will improve the quality of life for those living with HIV/AIDS.
After the office meeting, we traveled to the Makumbe Mission Hospital. This hospital only has three doctors and 44 nurses, and yet they manage to take care of 13,000 patients. EGPAF helps to provide the funds and technical support so that these doctors and nurses are equipped with the tools that they need to properly provide care in facilities that are constantly improving.
I observed how the hospital was striving to meet higher quality improvement standards, whether that be through more thorough ways of reaching patients in the community about missed appointments or improving their patient records.
During my week in Zimbabwe, I saw Victoria Falls, I saw elephants, lions, even rhinos. However, the most rare, profound, and beautiful thing that I had the privilege of witnessing occurred after visiting the Makumbe District Hospital.
I had the opportunity to visit the home of an HIV-positive mother who was breastfeeding her HIV-negative baby as we visited with her.
I remember when I was raising funds and dancing last May, there were moments during those 26 hours when my feet hurt, when I wanted to give up, when I wondered how I, as an individual, was really making a difference in this fight. But seeing this mother and knowing that she will get to watch her child grow up, that she will not have to lose him to the same fight that she has been battling, that she can even breastfeed him and not worry about transmitting the disease, that is when it all clicked for me.
This is the moment I wish I could share with everyone not only in PAC or at UCLA, but with everyone who dances and raises funds to reach an AIDS-free generation.
...seeing this mother and knowing that she will get to watch her child grow up, that she will not have to lose him to the same fight that she has been battling ... This is the moment I wish I could share with everyone who dances and raises funds to reach an AIDS-free generation. Kat Calvert, UP 4 THE FIGHT Top Fundraiser
This trip with EGPAF truly was the opportunity of a lifetime. I returned to the United States with more knowledge, more insight, and more passion about the work being done and how I can support it. I’m proud of the progress being made and I’m proud to be a part of this fight to end AIDS. I can’t wait for Dance Marathon 2017 and for the next Top Fundraiser to share in this incredible, once in a lifetime experience.
For more information about the UP 4 THE FIGHT program and how you can be even more involved, please email up4thefight@pedaids.org and check out www.up4thefight.org.