At the Gwaimen Center, we currently have 16 children who are on ARVs, so every other month, we have to take them to the general hospital in Kafanchan for check-ups and prescription refills.

Last Wednesday, we packed up some food for lunch, packed into a van and went to Kafanchan. It was a long day: registration, weighings, and individual doctor visits. The most important things that the doctors look for is side-effects to the ARV drugs, like opportunistic infections, and changes in overall health that could be due to their decreased CD4 counts.

Most are normal kids with runny noses and coughs, but when someone is HIV-positive, coughs can be more serious and infections seem to be sneaking up on them all the time. We just found out that two of the children have tuberculosis and one has malaria. Prompt treatment is necessary for these children to combat these illnesses.

Days like today are the ones that I realize why I am here. It was a long day: trying to get 17 children under control and not to run around the hospital like we were at a playground is exhausting (and usually not all that successful). But knowing that these children are getting the medical attention that they need: drugs that could literally save their lives, makes all the running after kids worthwhile.

I brought my ONE nalgene along for the ride, as I do many days. As I find that I am always doing, I carry ONE along with me in all of this work. Accompaniment is powerful and I’ve told many people about ONE and all of the Americans who care about them and who take action everyday to end extreme poverty. It inspires them and it inspires me. Thank you, ONE!

-Anne Batchelder

Anne is a ONE member, as well as the former ONE Deputy Field Director, and co-founder of the Gwaimen Center in Kwoi, Nigeria