Hard Worker

Many people take their work home with them, but some people never stop working.

Empo is an HIV counselor. She is employed by Baylor for the Mokhotlong district. Each day, she comes with the Baylor doctor to the clinics and does counseling and testing. She is also in charge of all the testing done at the hospital, and sets up “Screening Days” to get more children tested in her area.

Most of the people in Mokhotlong use a horse or their own two feet to get from place to place, so when we were driving to the clinics we would give rides to some people along the way, in particular women carrying babies. When we picked them up, I noticed that Empo immediately would strike up a conversation with them in Sesotho, and find out if they had been tested, and if not she would encourage them to come to clinic to get tested right away. Some people would get really uncomfortable asking what could be interpreted as such personal questions of strangers. Empo, however, is doing a wonderful job in her country, with an HIV prevalence of greater than 25%, trying to get every baby that she can tested so they can get on medicines. For an HIV-infected mom not on treatment or prophylaxis, there is a 40% chance of her baby becoming HIV-infected. Of those babies, 40% of them will die before 12 months if they aren’t started on treatment. Those are sobering numbers, and Empo is doing an inspiring job in her fight against them.