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Part 1: The Triplets are Born

At seven months’ pregnant, Thando* found out she was having twins. At eight months’ pregnant, she found out she was having triplets. Living with HIV, like 24% of pregnant women in the area, there was a likelihood that Thando could pass on HIV to her children. When she found out she was pregnant, Thando was not receiving any HIV treatment or antenatal care.

This is where a One to One Mentor Mother, Siphokazi, came in. On a door-to-door visit, she met Thando, at five-months pregnant, and ensured that she started anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. Siphokazi visited Thando weekly, sometimes daily, to ensure she continued to take the treatment and had transport to the clinic, which had been out of reach. As an HIV+ woman from the same area, Siphokazi could empathise and Thando trusted her, so that the interventions worked.

When Thando gave birth, amazingly, none of the triplets had contracted HIV.

Siphokazi’s support didn’t stop there. She continued to visit regularly, ensuring mother and babies were well and that they were eating enough, growing enough, and getting access to crucial vitamins and micronutrients. The triplets, named Luvuyo, Mpilo and Zuko*, hit all of their development markers. This was in 2018.

Part 2: Tragedy strikes, but One to One strikes back

Then tragedy struck. In 2021, at the height of the pandemic, Thando died suddenly and unexpectedly. Her 9 children, including the triplets, were left motherless; their child support grants were stripped away; and they were confronted with a most uncertain future. But they did have one thing on their side: Mentor Mother, Siphokazi.

Supported by Siphokazi, the children’s father, Andile, accessed life-saving child support grants. Through One to One’s project, he received seedlings and knowledge to grow his own food; food parcels and breakfast packs to supplement the food he could grow to ensure that the children were getting the correct nutrition; and Little Sun solar lights to ensure that even in an area with little access to electricity, the children could learn, play, and grow.

A brighter future was starting to feel possible.

Part 3: Ready for the future

Born HIV-free and then supported by the Mentor Mother, Siphokazi, to cope with some of the effects of the loss of their mother, the triplets have been able to thrive despite the difficulties they have faced. The tragic loss of their mother has meant that their father, Andile, has the sole responsibility of looking after his nine children. One to One has accompanied him and his family along the journey providing nutritional support and access to grants. Now Andile has joined our Mentor Brother programme that provides peer-to-peer support and a space for men to discuss issues that can help increase their engagement with family and reduce violence. 

In 2022, an elder sister of the triplets enrolled Luvuyo, Mpilo and Zuko in our play learning programme where she learnt to use educational toys and games to stimulate age-appropriate cognitive development. These sessions were crucial not only to allow for the triplets to keep up with developmental targets, but also to deepen relationships within the family. Now, at age six, the triplets are ready to make the most of school, which they will start in January. And their elder sister is herself a mother-to-be, being supported by her own Mentor Mother, a testament to our life-cycle approach and intervention.

The triplets, Luvuyo, Mpilo and Zuko, exemplify the life-saving and life-changing work that we do; work that is only possible thanks to your support.