Granny’s Loving Care by Judy Cooke

Lutho is a little boy of eight who lives in a wooden shack in Langa with his granny, who has been caring for him since his mother died of Aids in 2005. She also looks after three of his cousins, whose parents also died – but unlike him, they are not HIV positive and living on ARVs. So Granny is mother to four children, all impacted by HIV/Aids.

For a child to be on ARVs there has to be a responsible adult who can ensure that the medicine is meticulously taken every day, and that the child is brought to the clinic regularly for check-ups with the doctor. Lutho’s granny is the most wonderfully caring and conscientious supporter he could have. She keeps a careful eye on him, ensures that he takes his ARVs twice daily, with a piece of bread to help them down, watches to see that he is coping at school, and is trying the best she can to give him whatever opportunities there are for him.

Hence, she wanted him to be one of the children from Langa Clinic who came to RUC on the first Advent Sunday, the day we also commemorated World Aids Day. They both came, having walked all the way from the top end of Langa to the Clinic in Washington Street where we met. There was a waiting, a hoping, an anticipation of something new, different, something a bit scary in an unknown church full of unknown people in rich Rondebosch. But they trusted what they had been told - and so six children, all affected by HIV or on ARVs, attended that day, with two mums, their FAMSA counsellor and the FAMSA HIV/Aids Co-ordinator – as well as our Sisonke beading trainer managers and their co-ordinator. What did they come into? Simply, being part of the service, introduced and welcomed at the beginning, singing an unknown hymn, and then sharing the Peace of Christ with each other. Lutho’s Granny is old, poor and worn-looking, but when we shared the Peace, she grasped my hand firmly and gave it that familiar African double handshake, and smiled, a wonderful warm, brown-eyed smile at me. Her face lit up, full of joy and happiness – fulfilment – and I realised her Advent had come – and so had mine. The tender love of Jesus was in that smile, speaking from all the experience of caring for a sick child and other little ones in a shack - and I thought ‘Lucky Lutho, that child is being loved, his granny wants just the best for him, and she is very glad to be here’. From one Granny to another – I too have an eight-year-old grandson – an affirmation of this being a space where we could reach each other, across our different worlds, through the Peace of our Saviour, and rejoice.

I watched Lutho, along with all the other children, kneel down and bless the Christmas boxes, so beautifully decorated by our Sunday school children, and filled by the generosity of Lichtblick, far away in Germany. The children joyfully sang ‘U Jesu lo unobubele nam’ and were delighted and surprised at the marimbas. In the church hall, they busily made their beaded bracelets with the others, so proud of their efforts, and then enjoyed popcorn and juice. They shone up the jungle gym, swung on the swings, and I saw Lutho trying out the piano, carefully playing and listening to the sounds he was making. The freedom just to be ordinary children together in this loving and accepting environment – is this not something we are blessed to be able to offer, and then receive and complete the blessing through what they bring us? A grandmother, choosing to remain in that place of love despite the suffering, faithfully standing by her sick grandson, helping him live life abundantly.
Lutho’s Granny has stayed in my mind all week. A lullaby she might sing to him came to me …
 
‘Thula, thu, thula baba, thula sana…
Sleep so gently, my Lutho, do not worry.
Efivarenz you have taken, sometimes brings bad dreams –
Don’t be scared, I am here, and you are safe in bed.
3TC, D4T, twice a day you take,
We’ll make sure there’s some bread
And no tummy ache.
Thula, thu, thula baba, thula sana…’