Bronwyn has crazy powers of persuasion. Credit it to her
baby blue eyes, three toothed grin or the porcelain white skin – whatever the
reason, when Bronwyn’s around, she gets whatever she wants, and by extension,
so does the parent holding her. We’ve only used her powers a few times…
The ART clinic (Anti-Retroviral Therapy clinic) at Mansa
General Hospital disperses all medicines to people with HIV in Mansa District.
The lines are always way too long and the doctors, nurses and admin staff have
a way of making people feel like they are an inconvenience. We have been
lobbying for years to have a rural ART clinic placed in the Fimpulu area, but bureaucracy,
lack of funding and other unknown factors have made it a difficult process.
There are also a lot of rules at the hospital that make
things difficult for people traveling into town from rural areas. They only disperse
medicine on certain days at certain times. They only see certain kinds of
patients at certain hours… And as the ones trying to coordinate and organize
175 people (from our village alone!) to get in to see doctors and get medicine
in a timely fashion, dealing with the (seemingly) arbitrary logistics can be
frustrating. On many occasions, our people will come out of the hospital and
I’ll ask them, “how did it go?” and they’ll tell me that the doctor told them
to come back tomorrow because he only sees coughing people on Thursdays, or
something like that. Each and every time, I’ll go back into the hospital with
that person, explain the situation and how returning the next day is not only a
waste of time and fuel, but probably not necessary. Usually it takes a little
bargaining, once or twice it has taken actual crying on my part. But for people
on ARV medicines, timeliness matters. Adherence matters. Being treated with
dignity and respect matters. I do what I can.
But let me just say that this work of advocacy is SO MUCH
EASIER WITH A WHITE BABY! It kind of makes me roll my eyes, but it is what it
is and I use it to the advantage of the vulnerable ones around me.
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| ART clinic photo shoot pic 1 |
The other day a neighbor couple of ours came to visit and
tell me their problem. They had been going into the hospital with us every week
for the past six weeks to try to open their file – a necessary process for
receiving ARV medicines. They weren’t sure why, but the ART clinic was refusing
to complete the process, saying that they were lacking information from their
hospital where they had started taking the medicines. They had been told to
return to that town and get their complete files and then come back to Mansa
and finish the process. I looked at the paperwork that the first hospital had
sent them with and couldn’t for the life of me figure out what additional
information was needed. “I think they are just giving you the run around” I
told these friends. They shrugged their shoulders and said that it seemed
impossible, and that they wanted to come and work at the farm to raise the
money to go to Kasama and collect the paperwork. “You want to work for a month
and a half to raise the funds needed to travel 1,600 kilometers to collect
paperwork that is not necessary? This is nuts. Why don’t I try to help you.”
They questioned whether I would be able to do anything considering the strict
rules of the office they had been dealing with. I told them not to worry, that
I would go in with them, and that we would take Bronwyn. The couple just sort
of looked at me as if to say, “uh, ok.”
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| ART clinic photo shoot pic 2 |
The next day we traveled together to Mansa. I walked into
the appropriate office with Bronwyn in my arms and our neighbors right behind
me. “How’s our baby today!” the office staff smiled and clapped. Bronwyn went
to playing with one of them at the computer and I talked to the others. “Our
friends here are trying to open some files, but there seems to be a hang up.
Can you help?” With Bronwyn cooing and playing and catching everyone’s
attention, the ladies looked at her, looked at me and simply said, “Let’s take
care of it right now, shall we?” They pulled out a marker, a fresh file folder,
asked our friends some questions and the process was completed. I wanted to ask
why my request had been granted so quickly whereas the people next to me had
been denied for six weeks straight, but I decided not to push my luck. The
couple was extremely grateful, thanked me, thanked Bronwyn, got their meds and
all was good.
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| ART clinic photo shoot pic 3 |
Part of me feels like it really isn’t right – the fact that
my skin color and especially the cuteness of my baby gets us whatever we want
while other people have to fight for justice. I’m thankful that my child is a
Micah 6:8 baby, and I pray that this early heritage grows her into a powerful
Micah 6:8 woman!
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| ART clinic photo shoot pic 4 |
And in the mean time, I'm glad these people love her!
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| ART clinic photo shoot group shot... they look like they work for a modeling agency, right? |
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