San Camilo Home

Before talking about the Home, let us briefly review the general situation in Lima (Peru), where the Home is located and which is in intense and generalised poverty.  Within such difficult conditions of life, the sick are those that suffer most intensively.  Extreme poverty leads families to a profound destabilisation and disintegration wherein the children live on the streets from the day they start to walk; therefore, the streets become their school of life instead of their families.  To this must be added the unhealthy condition of the houses, the absence of hygiene services, and the uncertainty of whether they will find anything to eat that day...

 

Within this framework, alimentation consists mainly of rice, very little fruit and vegetables and, very rarely, proteins.  If to this reality we add being a carrier of HIV, means of survival lead many families to extreme lifestyles.

·   It is estimated that of the 70,000 HIV positive people in Lima, only 1.800 of them have access to adequate medication, i.e., highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) 

·   Transmission is mainly sexual, above all in heterosexuals. 

·   On the one hand, great promiscuity and on the other, the lack of economic resources and of knowledge/information, all serve to spread the disease.  It is therefore very common to find entire families affected by AIDS. 

·   Those who are HIV positive have to face the stigma within their immediate surroundings if their diagnosis is made public. 

·   In practice, there is no type of medical insurance that will function in favour of the health of those who cannot afford to even buy food each day.

The San Camilo Home (HSC), a non-profit making religious entity, was founded on 30th of September 1995 by the Camillus Monks, whose order was characterised by caring for the sick.  In those years there weren’t many institutions helping people living with HIV/AIDS and the incidence of the disease grew steadily.

The objective of the Home is to accommodate, accompany and care for people, encouraging them to live healthily and where the greatest value is placed on life itself.  The Home develops a series of projects which attempt to embrace the HIV/AIDS problem and the sufferer in an integral manner, and they are therefore cared for by professionals from different areas: health, social, emotional and spiritual.  In addition, the entire family of the sufferer is cared for, working with each member of same.

 

Help for these people has been achieved through different programmes which have been implemented throughout the life of the Home.  Through them and up until 2008 more than 15.000 people have benefited from them.  Those attending the Home are people or families affected by HIV/AIDS who, in their majority, live in extreme poverty in deprived areas of the city of Lima and who participate weekly in the activities provided to them by the Home.  This group of activities aim to strengthen these people, help them to believe once more in life and to believe in working for it and contemplating their social reintegration.  On the other hand, the HSC carries out preventative –promotional activities which help to slow down the epidemic. 

The HSC programmes are carried out thanks to the support of public institutions (Hospital Dos de Mayo, Ministry of Health, etc.) and private institutions.  The HSC has become a benchmark for many of the sick, their families and private institutions, public institutions and the Catholic Church, committed to the fight against HIV/AIDS in Peru.  Some lines of action, such as home visits and feeding babies with infant milk formula, have been replicated by other entities. 

In November of 2004, thanks to the United Nations Global Fund and in agreement with and authorisation of the Ministry for Health, the San Camilo Home was elected one of the centres for the administration of Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment (HAART) for adults with HIV/AIDS.  The programme currently has some 340 people in treatment and a growing waiting list. 

In addition, the Home has a multi-disciplinary team who develop activities with HIV positive children or children of people with HIV/AIDS. 

On 11th of February 2006, a branch of the San Camilo Home was inaugurated in the town of Arequipa to care for HIV positive children and adults and orphans, children of those who died from this disease.   This Home placed special emphasis on the prevention of vertical transmission, i.e. from mother to foetus. 

On 22nd of February 2008 the Centre of Excellence was inaugurated which enables the provision of a better service, covering a greater number of people and facilitates the carrying out, in collaboration with the Saco Institute of Milan, research projects about HIV/AIDS. 

Activities and programmes have been developed, over these years, which all together give the Home the strength and capacity to provide an integral service and care.  What makes the difference in all this is the charisma of St Camillus which imbues all human endeavour in favour of the sick. 

We would like to point out that all the employees in the Home are Peruvian and, therefore, know the reality of their country, their culture, which in turn facilitates a closer bond with the people who attend the Home.  And, on the other hand, they are given employment.  Many foreign volunteers do collaborate in the Home, the majority of them Europeans, although there are also Peruvian volunteers. 

In addition, we would like to mention that the Home “feeds” on public and private financial help, and on donations of perishable products which when they arrive at the Home are distributed amongst the most needy families. 

The San Camilo Home programmes are the following: 

·   Hostel

·   Camillus Life

·   Early Stimulation

·   Happy Life

·   Home visits

·   Lighting up a life

·   Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART)

·   Adolescents

·   Listening centre

·   Creating awareness and prevention

·   Needs not currently covered/New projects