14th July 2007
The sun was shining brightly, Maggie could still smell the fresh rain from two hours ago. She was standing outside of her hut with her grandmother waiting for the wet mud to dry up in the walls and the floors of the hut. She looked at their small and shabby hut. It was starting to degrade and soon they would have to build a new one. Maggie was afraid her grandmother was too old to build a hut, or anything for that matter. She was getting more wrinkly now, and her back was hunched really badly, yet she tried to be strong and protect her.
Maggie’s parents died when she was just a little child. Her mother died while giving birth to her and her father died of HIV a few years after that. Both her parents had HIV, that’s why Maggie got infected too at childbirth. It seemed like the villagers were more bothered by it then she herself. They avoided her like the plague, except Oola, her neighbour. Maggie’s grandmother was the only thing left that she treasured and love.
Maggie went to Oola’s garden to work while waiting for the hut to dry. She was looking at the fresh raindrops on the flowers, but her mind was far away. She was having a pile of “what-if’s” running through her mind., as usual. “What if my parents weren’t dead?” “What if I went to school? Will I have friends? Will I still have to work at Oola’s garden?” “What if I didn’t have HIV? Will children then talk to me?”, she thought. Soon, she snapped out of the trance and went back to work.
The sun was starting to set, so she stopped working as it was getting dark. She collected her daily pay from Oola and walked back to her hut. She saw her grandmother preparing dinner as she entered. The smell of the food made her mouth water. This was her favourite time of the day, where she could spend time with her grandmother and eat a scrumptious meal.
Days have passed, Maggie’s hut was starting to crumble. So, she and her grandma set out to refurbish the hut as it was a good day to do it because they had plenty of wet mud after the rain. After hours of reshaping and rebuilding the hut, they were almost done. Maggie’s grandma had thought of taking a break and treating both of them to a jug of rooibos tea while Maggie cleaned herself. As she was approaching Maggie with the tea, she slipped and fell on her back. The floor was caked with mud, wet slippery mud.
The jug made a loud clank that made Maggie jump and turn around to see her grandma sprawled across the floor. Her eyes open widely and she let out a scream and rushed to her helpless grandmother. As Maggie tries to help her up, Oola rushed to help carry her up. She told Maggie she heard a loud sound and a scream coming from here and she was worried something happened. After successfully carrying Maggie’s grandma up from the floor, they brought her to the nearest nurse in the village. The nurse set her down the bed and told them to wait outside. Maggie exited and stared at the door, waiting for the nurse to come out with her grandma. This time, the only what-if that ran through Maggie’s mind was “What if she dies?”
An hour later, the nurse came out pushing Maggie’s grandma on a wheelchair. She told Maggie her grandma was paralyzed, and she couldn’t move half of her body. Maggie fell to her knees and faced her grandmother, tears falling down her cheeks. She took her grandma’s hand and told her everything was going to be okay. Her grandma seemed to believe her eventually. Now, she just had to convince herself.
Day by day, Maggie’s grandmother grew frailer and frailer. Fortunately, Oola gave Maggie a few days off from work. One day, as rain was pouring down really heavily, Maggie and her grandmother had to stay inside of the hut. They were wrapped together in a long blanket because they were both very cold, especially Maggie’s grandmother. Maggie could hear her grandma breathing really heavily. She realized not only has she grown weaker but older as well. She was soon to be 83 years old. Maggie moved closer to her and stared at the door waiting for the rain to stop as her grandma closed her eyes, smiling peacefully.
The rain stopped two hours later. Maggie had to put her grandma back on the wheelchair, so she tried to wake her up. She didn’t respond. Maggie shook her, but she didn’t respond. She tried to hear a heartbeat from her, not a single one was heard. She stared blankly at her grandmother and started to burst into tears. She felt broken, a part of her gone. A thousand tears filled with a million memories. Her tears just kept coming and coming as she held her tiny, frail grandmother in her arms.
Months passed since the incident, Maggie was feeling quite better. No more sleepless nights, or moments where she considered committing suicide. One day, as Maggie was working in the neighbour’s garden, she saw a sophisticated man walking around the village with the village translator. They then approached her and the man told the translator to introduce him. He was a volunteer from an organisation called Global Fund and he was here to collect children victims of HIV. Maggie told him she had been an HIV positive since birth. Then, the man asked her if she would like to follow him to a HIV therapy institution. At first Maggie hesitated, but then followed him eventually.
Two days later, they arrived at the institution. It looked like those buildings in the city from the pictures Maggie had seen in some flyers. As they entered the reception desk, Maggie saw children, some very young, some as old her. Her heart was beating very fast, she was nervous but excited. Maybe this once she would be accepted as a person and not shunned by others, because these people were just like her.
It took some time to settle in. Maggie was so happy to hear that she was sharing a room with a few other girls of her age. They spoke her language and they included her in when they did things. “So this is what having friends feel like.”, she thought. She loved it.
As months passed, Maggie went through some HIV therapy, she took antiretroviral drugs to reduce the HIV in her bloodstream, she was becoming healthier. She thought life was starting to seem brighter. Every night, she thanked her grandmother, she knew she was guiding her along her life journey.
15th July 2011
4 years have passed, Maggie was a miracle. Doctors predicted she wouldn’t make it to this day, yet she was still alive. All the times where she had fought through the pain and hardship to survive the disease was worth it. She was living her life the fullest she can. Maggie had volunteer to care for the younger HIV victims, and she was enjoying life with friends and nurses. She wasn’t as strong as a normal 12 year old girl, as she was still infected with HIV.
One day, as Maggie was handling some of the HIV children, she felt a little unstable. She stopped to balance herself, but it was impossible to think with all that black spots in her vision. Suddenly, there was a thud on the floor. Every child that was there turned around to see where the sound came from and saw Maggie passed out on the floor. Luckily, the other volunteer was there and she quickly called a nurse. They carried her to the nurse’s room and set her on the bed. Maggie was burning hot but she couldn’t stop shivering. Soon, Maggie was sent to the emergency room to have a doctor check up on her.
A few hours later, the doctor had Maggie rest in one of the rooms after taking a doze of polyoxidonium. He concluded that Maggie was facing a high fever as hot as 107 degrees. Her immune system couldn’t stop the fever due to HIV, so it kept getting stronger and the temperature got higher. Her organs were on the verge of shutting down. The only thing they could do was to wait and hope the polyoxidonium took action.
A few days ago, she was sweating excessively and was unable to walk. Appetite has failed her and she never ate anything. Now, she couldn’t do anything at all. Her organs were shut down and she was very weak. Suddenly, she started reminiscing about her life, the stages she had been through, the pain of facing the shuns of many people, the death of a loved one, the struggle to survive the physical pain, they were all worth it. Slowly, she relaxed and let her eyelids drop with a small smile on her face. Soon, her soft breathing stopped and no further sound was made.
Days later, the doctors and nurses decided to hold a memorial service for Maggie. Somehow, word got out and a few reporters arrived at the memorial service. Soon, Maggie’s story was all over the news internationally. People soon knew about her life and got inspired to work together and help the HIV children victims.
“We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.”
The End
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