I guess it’s about time I write an update…
So I’m still alive in Zambia, don’t worry. The clinic I work in here is in an even worse condition than the one I had in Ecuador… At least the Ecuadorean one was CLEAN…… Well, not that the staff are bad or anything, but they don’t use plastic gloves or masks! Omg… the first day I went I helped out at the Pharmacy to sort out their paracetamol and AcetylSalicylic acid pills. I asked for a plastic gloves, they looked at me in a wtf way, so I asked where I can wash my hands…. The toilet stinks like hell! No flush, no toilet roll, and with a smell of fermenting human manure… Spent another morning with the consultant. about 90% of the patients there had Malaria. It’s just like flu in our countries, very very common, and ppl are bound to catch it sometime in their life, and get well in about a week or two; yet Malaria sometimes sounds like an end-of-the-world disease in developed countries.
about 1 in 3 or 4 people in this country are HIV positive, and most of them have tuberculosis too. There’s a department completely devoted to TB patients (i.e. HIV – since they so often have them both together). It was actually very heartbreaking to see some little boys 8 or 9 years of age going in to get his medicine, yeah, long term ones, ones which they have to take for the rest of their life, if they could live long, that is; if their HIV positive status doesn’t cause him to have AIDS, that is…. I suddenly had an urge to cry when I saw all these that day at the clinic…. It’s really weird, I am usually very tough (yeah, excuse me, I really am) when it comes to situations like this, I didnt even had an intention to cry even in that Ecuador little girl incident (refer to my entries 4 months ago), but this time, somehow, it was really heartbreaking….
aiiii… oh well. But there really is a hell lot to learn from these people.
The other day I saw a man, walking in the street, his T-shirt reads:
“I AM HIV-POSITIVE”
in red, block letters.
At the back it reads:
“BUT I LIVE A POSITIVE LIFE”
People here are very very very understanding and accepting of HIV-positive ppl and even AIDS patients. They are not looked down upon.
This is so touching. Will this ever happen in SO-CALLED developed countries?
In the afternoon we usually spend time in an orphanage, kids there of all ages were orphaned since their parents died of AIDS.
The other day, we thought of playing that game of balloon-blasting with them (that game which we tie a balloon at our ankle then go around stepping and blasting each other’s balloon and whoever’s left with a balloon wins). We spent like 40 minutes blowing up and distributing the balloon, but just as we’re about the start the game, we saw the kids so happy with their precious new toy, a little boy simply walked towards me and go,
‘Lucci, let’s play!’
and played 1-on-1 volleyball with me with that balloon.
Then we realized that the game will be quite a trauma for them…. We give them something they really want then we ask them to destroy it???? they’ll definitely be traumatized!!!
These kids never take things for granted… And they appreciate every second we spend with them, every piece of little thing we give them
This trip really really is a valuable lesson in my life.
