Mothers2Mothers: HIV-Positive Women Mentor Others

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In 2003, Robin Smalley was a 51-year-old TV producer in Los Angeles who longed to do something more. She found her inspiration while visiting Dr. Mitch Bessler, an American OB/GYN living in Cape Town, South Africa, who was trying to launch a first-of-kind peer education program for pregnant women living with HIV. The mission behind the program: To establish a "model of care that provides education and support for pregnant women and new mothers living with HIV/ AIDS."Each year, millions of babies die from HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. In the developing world, approximately 25 percent of mothers living with HIV will transmit the virus to their newborn babies, even though precautions and medication can virtually eliminate this risk. In countries throughout Africa, women are unaware that there is help, and frequently refuse to even be tested for HIV due to the stigma they face in their communities. Without intervention, entire generations are at stake.“Both my mother and best friend, Mitch’s sister, had recently died and I was stuck in my losses,” says Smalley, who decided Cape Town would be a good place to stand back and re-evaluate her life for a few weeks. “Meeting the women Mitch was working with⎯single moms who came from cardboard shacks with no plumbing or electricity⎯gave me a new perspective. In the morning they sing a prayer, thanking God for what they have. It made me think about all I had to give.”  When Smalley first visited Bessler, he was running his program out of the back of a car, borrowing money from month to month to keep going. Smalley had a management background and had worked for several nonprofits; she knew she could help. Eight weeks later, her husband and two teenage daughters moved with her to South Africa. A year later, Smalley and Bessler, along with Showtime Vice-president Gene Falk, co-founded Mothers2Mothers. They were able to set up m2m programs in 73 clinics and hospitals throughout South Africa and Lesotho.Mothers2mothers (m2m) uses education and empowerment as tools to prevent mother‐to‐child transmission of HIV/AIDS during pregnancy, combat stigma within families and communities, support a mother’s adherence to medical treatment, and reduce the likelihood of AIDS orphans. Located in health facilities that offer medical treatment to women living with HIV, m2m fills the gaps left by the public health system by providing support groups for women with HIV to share their fears and feelings. Many of these women live with the secret of their disease, afraid to tell their husbands, friends, and family for fear of being ostracized. Many others must raise their babies alone. Mothers2mothers trains HIV-positive mothers, and hires them to oversee and run local program sites. They become an invaluable part of the medical staff in their local clinics and hospitals. From provincial and regional managers to site coordinators, these women are given the skills and confidence to become leaders and role models within their communities. Currently, m2m employs more than 1,400 HIV-infected mothers to mentor more than 180,000 mothers per month at 494 sites in seven countries: South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Malawi.  In 2009, m2m hopes to expand its powerful network into Mozambique, Uganda, and Tanzania. “These are women who had no job, no hope⎯nothing,” says Smalley, who now divides her time between Los Angeles and Cape Town. “We’re giving them the information and skills they need to take control of their lives.” After being trained as counselors for M2M, some of the women cycle out of poverty and continue their educations, or get jobs as community outreach workers employed by the government and NGOs.Smalley continues to find inspiration in m2m women, such as Babalwa, whose abusive husband had infected her with the HIV virus. He wouldn’t get tested himself, yet she nursed him back to health due to her m2m training in how to effectively manage the symptoms of this deadly disease. Now, Balbalwa’s husband has stopped drinking and treats her with respect. None of her children have been infected with the HIV virus, which she credits to the education she's received from m2m. "I lost my heart to these women with no reason to have joy or hope, and yet they met the challenges of their lives with both,” Smalley says. "It really hit me that women are Africa’s greatest resource, and empowering them is what’s going to have a major impact on saving the continent.”
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By Jennifer Haupt

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