Baby Haven

Joao Biehl is Brazillian. His anthropological work “The Will To Live” documents, analyzes and gives meaning to how Brazil experienced the universal ART distribution it implemented from 1995 to early 2000s. He writes about his country and how people at the margins of society – the outcast prostitutes, drug abusers, homosexuals and generally indigent – were unable to access the life saving anti-AIDS drugs because the state health facilities could not meet the needs of patients who struggle to survive, let alone adhere to an ART regimen (Bielh, Will to Live). I wonder to what extent people in Namibia cannot access the ART regimens that are universally available. Besides the institutional praise our ART rollout has received from UNAIDS, PEPFAR and the Global Fund, we still only cover 77% of patients who need ART. Are people who wander the streets, such as sex workers and homeless people, including children, who face violence on a daily basis, included in the remaining 13% of those in need? To what extent is the surveillance of the epidemic in Namibia able to include people with no permanent physical address or records, people who have never been tested and are not on the “pre-art” program of CD4 count monitoring? Additionally I am interested in how local “circuits of care” emerge as a complement to government health services.

In “Will To Live,”Biehl tells the story of a grassroots health institution in the city of Salvador, a house of care called Caasah. Some people admitted to Caasah experienced transformation whereby they did not only adhere to their treatment, but also demanded its access for others. Thus, they became “patient citizens” which engaged with medical and political institutions. A similar institution to Caasah is “Baby Haven” in Windhoek Namibia. This a safe house for babies that are typically removed from their abusive parents by social workers. It reminds of “Angel’s Wings” in Trenton – a foster home for kids from abusive homes – where I volunteered by very first week in the United States. Somehow my initial post college life mirrors my initial college life, where volunteerism featured prominently. However, just as the two volunteer experiences were different – my time at “Baby Haven” differing from “Angels Wings”, Caasah is distinct from “Baby Haven”. Caasah deals with adults and “Baby Haven” with children, however these categorizations are not absolute. Caasah did take in a 14 year heamophiliac boy who was HIV positive and taught him how to live with the ARV regimen. “Baby Haven” takes in all babies, regardless of seropositivity. The times I visited there, they had two HIV positive children who lived there and who were given medication there. The Haven is a home for these children and it is also provides medical care, administering medical and engaging with the state health facilities, much like Caasah.

Furthermore, it is noteworthy that “Baby Haven” recruits mothers who suffer from problems such as drug and alcohol abuse that leads them to abandon their babies. Brenda is one such mother. She worked as drug and alcohol addicted prostitute before the organization found her: “They helped me change my, they took me from the street and started taking ARV” said Brenda with no shame to a group of women from the St Boniface Church and myself. It is indeed important to realize that were it not for “Baby Haven” Brenda may never have started treatment or worked as a volunteer a “Baby Haven”. Her local world must have been transformed by her time in this house for babies, analogous to the transformation of Caasah residents in Brazil. Miles apart in distance, yet these two organizations have a similar motif – people who find the Will to Live.
Indeed, Brenda spoke confidently as she told us of the difficulties faced by Baby Haven and by herself. She initially could not attain a birth certificate for child, just because she could not name the father. As a sex worker though, how could she? Her child was born on the street. Therefore, she sought assistance at the Council of Churches of Namibia, where she mentioned she also works on a voluntary basis. The Church wrote a letter demanding that she be issue with a birth certificate, but the ministry of home affairs still refused to provide it. Finally, she involved the media and her story was all over the country after which her daughter finally received the certificate.


I can’t bother to finish this post it is just so boring to write. I need to find a cooler way to write up these “anthro” observations. In any case, what more can I say here.

Brenda was given agency through this grassroots home for babies, “Baby Haven”. Her life has changed. However, the sad thing is this place does not receive funding from the government even though they supplement the governments work – taking care of babies, providing them with ART and food, helping women turn their lives around.