When Maria Kosmetatos, a Portland HIV Nurse Practitioner, was planning her Summer 2000 trip to South Africa to attend the International AIDS Conference, she was also set to volunteer for 6 weeks at a health clinic and deliver over $20,000 raised by Portlanders to support grassroots AIDS efforts in St Werburgh’s village, a rural area about 14 miles from downtown Mutare, Zimbabwe. The Portland - Mutare Sister City Association had ties with the village through its cultural, educational, and agricultural programs. An estimated 30 percent of the 3000 villagers were infected with HIV, and life expectancy has fallen from 65 years to less than 39 years since the onset of the AIDS epidemic.
Seasoned travelers had told Maria that when going to Africa, prepare for the unexpected. True to their counsel, upon arrival to volunteer in the clinic, she was in for a shock. THERE WAS NO CLINIC! It had earlier been demolished, due to sub-standard construction. The villagers had formed a Clinic Construction Committee, but due to a lack of funds, they had only managed to pour the foundation and erect some of the walls.
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Changing gears, Maria was soon involved with the clinic committee in ordering the delivery of such construction
materials as concrete, rebar, and lumber.
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Africa AIDS Response donated $ 15,000 finishing construction, the purchase and installation of an electric generator, and furnishing and stocking the clinic. The rest of the $21,000 donation was set aside in an interest-bearing
account, to pay school fees for village children orphaned by AIDS and to support home-based HIV hospice care.
Visit our Photo Gallery to see more of the building of a clinic and the Waiting Mother's Shelter.