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MCM 2008*
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About 25:40
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This section is dedicated to anecdotes and updates of specific children 25:40 has touched.
Antonio (not his real name) turned 1 on Dec. 1, 2004. He shares his birthday with HOKISA Home. When he arrived at HOKISA he was just a few months old. He is HIV+ and has had a string of severe ailments that come with AIDS, such as meningitis, pneumonia, and ear infections. He has been hospitalized several times and has been so sick the HOKISA staff did not think he would pull through. When he was in the hospital, his mother visited him on occasion, but it was the staff at HOKISA who kept the standing vigil by his bedside. Antonio luckily was not infected when chicken pox broke out at HOKISA in April 2004. He is well at the moment.
"When he was 15 months old, he had yet to crawl because his organs were so enlarged from illness that he physically could not pull his knees up and make the motions with his hands and arms that come so naturally to healthy children. But with time and teaching from the caretakers at HOKISA, as of May 2004 -- at 17 months old -- he is valiantly trying to walk on his thin little legs and his smile is still as wonderful as ever!"
"But he is getting there, with his own kind of smiling determination," says Karin Chubb, co-founder of HOKISA. "Every now and then he is overwhelmed by some new pain or ailment, but then our staff care for him with so much love."
Nkululeko is 11 years old and lives in Hamburg, South Africa. Dr. Carol Hofmyer found him in December 2003 curled up in his hut ill with pneumonia. His mother was with him, dying of AIDS and has grandmother was dying of complications from diabetes. Dr. Hofmyer was able to secure anti-retroviral medication for Nkululeko and start him on the regimen in January 2004. He is now stronger and thriving. He lives with his young aunt.
When we visited in August 2004, Nkululeko was not attending school because he was embarrassed by a skin condition common in AIDS patients. But the first day we met him, he attended a Capoeira class for the first time, and so was beginning to come out of his shell. With the help of 25:40 donations, Dr. Hofmyer was able to secure a 3-month supply of ARVs for him and another child on ARVs, plus three mothers in the village.