Chain Up The Crazies

12/16/2007

She is chained to the tree like a pet monkey.

This "crazy" woman, afflicted with mental illness, was abandoned by her parents on the top of Mt. Entoto next to St. Mary's church, just outside of Addis Ababa. This church is known nationwide for the healing power of its holy water, and thus attracts a huge number of people with disabilities and illness. To the right of the church, in a cluster of small trees, I saw the crazy woman.

Her large, piercing eyes darting from side to side with anxious curiosity...they look HUGe against her shaved head and small, thin body. Her face twitches as she mutters to herself, adding to the animal-like quality of her appearance. She sits with her knees pulled up to her chin, hidden beneath a dull green T-shirt. At first sight it is not clear if she even has legs. At closer glance, you'll notice that her feet are bound by the chain running along the ground from the nearest tree. Ten meters away, eight men are all chained at the ankles, laying casually in the sun. The community here by St. Mary's church doesn't know what else to do with the crazies except chain them up.

The woman can't be much older than me. She has been living with mental illness for 8 years and was abandoned here 8 months ago. Her parents, like many villagers throughout Ethiopia, had heard about the healing power of the holy water at St. Mary's church. When the water did not heal their daughter, they abandoned her on the mountain and returned to their village. The St. Mary's community has taken "care" of her thus far, leaving her chained up outside by day and bringing her inside by night.

This St. Mary's "community" I speak of is a community of outcasts...diseased, crippled, orphaned, HIV positive, "crazy"....most drawn to the area with hopes of being healed and for many reasons, still afflicted and never returning home to their villages. They become "Unknowns", unacknowledged by the local government because they have no form of photo identification (b/c they're from the village) and do not own land in the area (b/c they only have enough money to rent a room by the church). Because they are not recognized by the local government, they are unable to receive their free medication for HIV, etc. For those who are recognized by the govt and DO receivie their medication, often there is no consistent supply of food to take their medication with... and without food, the medication creates harmful side effects, so the individuals quit taking their medication, and their illness regresses. DAMN.

Out of all the NGO's (non-governmental organizations) that are presently in Addis Ababa working towards improving the standard of living for those most in need in Ethiopia, there are NONE that are helping out this community that is in DIRE NEED. Rather, there are TWO...INDIVIDUAL..PEOPLE...who recognize the dire circumstances of this outcast community, and are taking action, one little tiny baby step at a time...

Massai: he is in his twenties and came to St. Mary's infected with HIV in hopes of being healed by the holy water. He made a promise to God that if he were healed, he would do whatever he could to help this community. Massai now has NO TRACE of HIV in his body and is fulfilling his promise to God in the very small ways that he is able. For example, there is no adequate sanitation system in place, so Massai has begun each day by cleaning up the human feces that is left all over the place in order to improve sanitation.

Mimi: she is in her late twenties, a middle class working woman living in Addis Ababa. She discovered this community awhile back and has since been donating a portion of her salary to pay people's rent or buy items of necessity such as blankets, sheets, and filling prescriptions while she is in Addis. It was thru Mimi that I ended up encountering the St. Mary's community.

Several friends in our social circle have created their own social justice committee, seeking out ways they can be of service to the most needy in their community. One of them knew Mimi, so as a group, we accompanied her to the mountain for a tour of the St. Mary's community. We toured thru homes rented by HIV postitive patients. It was a maze of rooms, like a single-story motel built spontaneously on an uneven hillside. The rooms were made with mud/straw siding with tarps and flattened fuel cans as doors. Uneven dirt pathways wound down the hillside connecting the many strands of rooms. Within this maze that houses 80 people, there was only ONE bathroom...and it was a large pit dug out with a woven flooring of wood laid over the pit. In the center of the flooring was a single hole used by everyone, whether they were infected with HIV or not. Talk about needing some sanitation infrastructure!! We looked in on patients, greeting them with care and handshakes. I was so thankful for my AIDS CareTeam training and experience in Seattle because HIV/AIDS is an intimidating illness, even with training! As the tour came to an end, hundreds of people had begun following us: pleading, crying, begging, smiling. Little children, adults with rashes/bumps, their situations dire. At one point, a crazy guy with a piece of metal advanced towards us, so we retreated into the church property. Some people have cruel intentions to infect others with HIV, so we had to watch our backs. Mimi and our friend Tina took the time to record names and begin "registering" people so they could receive medications from the govt. Within an hour, they had 288 names, 77 of those were children.

As a group, we decided to dedicate our time and energy to this community. It will be an ongoing effort that we are praying friends and family will help out with. Several of us returned to the community to document their situation. I took photos as bed-ridden patients with HIV and paralyses graciously allowed me to enter their homes. Beline documented for each photo the name, status, illness, and so on. By the end of the day we had over 480 "registered" people. OUr friend Tina has already created an Excel spreadsheet used to register patients and keep track of their medication and illness status over time. We are calculating the amount of money it will take to feed, shelter, and clothe each person per month. We are also creating a website with the photos to share with family, friends and potential donors. At some point you will be able to sponsor a person and see their picture and status online, as well as follow along with the ways that your money is being used. Our goal is to get all of the money from the donor to the patient, without money being lost by a middleman/woman.

Be sure that I will keep you posted on this project! If not to help out, then at least to SEE this community. To recognize that their situation is reality and that these are not merely "unknowns" but each has a name and face and story.

hmm,
HT