AIDS in children
When the mother is infected, her child can acquire HIV in the maternal womb, in the act of being born or when being nursed.
Objective
  • Improve the quality of life for the children
  • Appease their tensions
  • Help them to relax
  • Help them sleep better
  • Improve their mood
  • Help them concentrate with their studies
  • Through massage therapy on their hands, feet and head; help them grow with confidence and self-esteem

USING AROMATHERAPY WITH HIV-POSITIVE CHILDREN

THE PROJECT

It began two years ago (2006) in Santiago de Chile. The initial funding came from Belgium, through funds raised at a Charity Gala organized by a Chilean woman resident there, Maria Teresa de Liedereke. And at the Chilean end the first organisational impetus came from a Chilean business executive, Maria Teresa Mendez, who became, and still is, unpaid coordinator. Also with Syliva Maria Galleguillos founder and CEO of the Osmanthus Centre for Scientific Holistic Aromatherapy, Santiago, Chile. Unpaid coordinator and aromapherapy advisor. The project was launched with sylvia's accumulated experience in working with aromatherapy in HIV and AIDS-related programmes within Chile. Maria Eugenia Galleguillos y Maria Eugenia Leiva are the aromatherapists who work with the children. The project is still ongoing.

THE CLIENT GROUP

The client group are HIV positive children from very deprived backgrounds. 16 of them, aged between 1 and 14 years old, who form the core group, live in the premises, as they have either been orphaned or abandoned by parents who were advanced AIDS sufferers and incapable of looking after them. There are 40+ others who form a peripheral group and live outside the premises, as they are still in touch with parents or relatives.

The core group children have been given permanent shelter by the Hogar de Acogida Santa Clara (the Santa Clara Shelter, run by Roman Catholic nuns). Their background plus their medical condition had turned them into pariahs and outcasts reduced to living on the streets, in rubbish dumps and under bridges.

The Shelter is located in a working class area in downtown Santiago, close to the town's main wholesale vegetable market and distribution centre, which does not provide the most sanitary surroundings.

Most of them have also suffered different forms of abuse earlier in their lives.

In general they come to the Shelter presenting high levels of aggressiveness, low self-esteem, irritability, intolerance, anxiety and sleep disturbances.

AIMS

  1. 1. Enhancing and boosting the children's immune system.
  2. 2. Providing emotional comfort and mental stimulation.
  3. 3. Controlling opportunistic ailments and alleviating their symptoms.

TECHNIQUES USED TO BE ABLE TO INTRODUCE AROMATHERAPY

  • Massages with essential oils.
  • Games, songs, art, dance.
  • Seasonal awareness (how body and mind are affected by the seasons).
  • Bonding and trust-building with the aromatherapists.
  • Olfactory stimulation.