Sijali is a beautiful 41 year old woman who is living with HIV that has progressed to AIDS. I met her 3 weeks ago and have had several visits with her. She has been married 3 times and has 5 children from those relationships. All three men are still alive but she now lives at home with her mother. All her children are grown up and live in Dar es Salaam although they come and visit her. She has 3 brothers but 2 have died – one in a fight over a woman, the other from intoxication of being drunk. She says she has too many sisters to count, over 10 at least.
What struck me about Sijali was how frankly she discussed things – she lives with her mother because her mother went and took her from the husband who wasn’t taking proper care of her, she wasn’t taking her ARV medication and thus getting more sick. Once she recovered she went back to him and the same thing happened again, only this time she got TB, a respiratory infection. She is back home with the mother but weakened significantly by the dual medications of ARV and TB – so much so that even trying to eat is strenuous. The mother takes care of her but one eye is burned shut, so she only sees through one eye. Additionally, because Sijali is immobile she’s acquired a fungus on her feet and neck that have caused the feet in particular to swell, the skin stretching across bumpy swollen lumps on both feet.
Charles and I stayed with her a while, hearing her story, and also explaining to her who I am and why I came to see her. We checked her CD4 count and she’s doing okay and hopefully it will go up as she continues to take her medication. The hospital is changing her medication to a different ARV so that will complement the TB medication and not weaken her so badly. We gave her an ointment for the fungus and next week I will go back with body oil to massage the feet and hopefully keep the skin from tearing – if the skin tears it may become infected and since she has progressed to AIDS even a minor infection may cause her to die.
My last visit with Sijali we talked more – she says she wants to get better and doesn’t want to live in pain. She has improved in terms of mobility, once a week she goes to the market. It still takes her time – as much as 5 minutes to stand then walk across the room. We laughed as I explained through Charles what an airplane is and how it takes so long to get back to America. We talked to her mother about Barack Obama – she cannot believe he has black skin. Once more, she can’t believe mzungu (white people) voted for him! I think she was encouraged though, to hear me talk about how he loves the people of the world and America.
It is sad at times but I am glad I’m getting the experience of working with people like Sijali and sharing their stories with all of you.
What struck me about Sijali was how frankly she discussed things – she lives with her mother because her mother went and took her from the husband who wasn’t taking proper care of her, she wasn’t taking her ARV medication and thus getting more sick. Once she recovered she went back to him and the same thing happened again, only this time she got TB, a respiratory infection. She is back home with the mother but weakened significantly by the dual medications of ARV and TB – so much so that even trying to eat is strenuous. The mother takes care of her but one eye is burned shut, so she only sees through one eye. Additionally, because Sijali is immobile she’s acquired a fungus on her feet and neck that have caused the feet in particular to swell, the skin stretching across bumpy swollen lumps on both feet.
Charles and I stayed with her a while, hearing her story, and also explaining to her who I am and why I came to see her. We checked her CD4 count and she’s doing okay and hopefully it will go up as she continues to take her medication. The hospital is changing her medication to a different ARV so that will complement the TB medication and not weaken her so badly. We gave her an ointment for the fungus and next week I will go back with body oil to massage the feet and hopefully keep the skin from tearing – if the skin tears it may become infected and since she has progressed to AIDS even a minor infection may cause her to die.
My last visit with Sijali we talked more – she says she wants to get better and doesn’t want to live in pain. She has improved in terms of mobility, once a week she goes to the market. It still takes her time – as much as 5 minutes to stand then walk across the room. We laughed as I explained through Charles what an airplane is and how it takes so long to get back to America. We talked to her mother about Barack Obama – she cannot believe he has black skin. Once more, she can’t believe mzungu (white people) voted for him! I think she was encouraged though, to hear me talk about how he loves the people of the world and America.
It is sad at times but I am glad I’m getting the experience of working with people like Sijali and sharing their stories with all of you.
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