TB Hospital

Everything at the hospital has been going well. At times it can be depressing to go but I have become close with many of the children and they look forward to us coming in everyday. We have done several art projects with them such as painting, drawing, stringing cheerios to make necklaces, decorating cookies, and making collages. We have also been playing soccer and frisbee with them and other games such as relay races and tag games to get them running around. Yesterday when we arrived, one of the girls ran up to me saying that she had a dream about me. She dreamt that I took her home for the weekend and we went to the beach and she said it was the most wonderful weekend she has ever had, which was really sweet. Later in the afternoon, I was speaking with a 13 year old boy outside of the ward. He asked me if I had a mother and a father, I said that I did and asked if he did. He replied "Neither". He then took a stick from the ground and lightly sketched "2003" on his arm implying the year that they died. When I asked how, he sketched "HIV" on his arm. He then told me he was HIV positive. Because of the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, people keep their status very private. I definitely feel like I am building relationships and trust with the kids if he feels comfortable enough to tell me this, which was the only silver lining in that conversation with him. Four of the girls in the ward are being discharged today, which is very exciting! They have all been here at least 6 months if not longer. Their beds will be filled with new patients tomorrow because there is such a long waiting list for this hospital. The girls are excited to go home to their families but I think it can also be stressful because they have to go back to their school after such a long period. The teacher in the school told them the other day that "once their school finds out they have been in a TB hospital, everything that goes wrong in the school will be their fault, so they have to be prepared for that". Again, this is due to the stigma that is attached to having TB and another reason why one's HIV status and other diseases such as TB are kept so private.