Cultural Learning

Due to our “ups and downs” situation we have been praying that God would help us to find joy and purpose in the mundane and/or give us something a little different in our weekly schedules. He answered this prayer on Monday when our neighbors asked for our help to take one of their relatives with them to a hospital about 2 hours away. We were excited to help and said, ‘Yes, let’s leave early tomorrow morning.’ I, Kristina, was able to do a little bit of research regarding some medicines the woman had been taking and reminding myself of some nursing advice I could give the woman to ease her pain. We were also looking forward to continuing to build our relationships with our neighbors, not to mention all of the Swahili practice we would get along the way.

The next morning, 8 of us, including Aletheia, piled in the car to take this woman to a hospital that is known for being a little higher scale than the one in our hometown. We arrived roughly two hours later after watching this woman flinch at many of the unavoidable bumps along the road. We decided not all of us needed to go into the hospital to wait with her since there were already so many other patients waiting as well. So we, the Meeks, and one of our neighbors went just outside of the hospital gates to park and get a little bit of chai and chapatis for breakfast. For a long time we waited outside. Every once in a while one of the family members would come outside to either get their own breakfast, get something out of the car, or just to say hello. There was about a 10-minute stint where we all went inside when the patient was only waiting for results from the doctor, but Aletheia was pretty tired and antsy, so I pretty quickly moved back outside with her and one of our neighbors. The wait was not too long, just shy of a total of 4 hours, but we were able to talk a lot with our neighbors.

The real cultural experience occurred when the patient had finished talking with the doctor. Caleb came out to get the car and mentioned he had not yet been told the verdict, but that they were all laughing so it seemed positive. We piled back in the car where we waited patiently to find out why everyone was laughing so hard.

Let’s step back a second and give you a better look at the situation…..

This woman, the patient, was in an accident about a month ago where a strap was hanging off the back of a truck as she was walking down the side of a road. The strap came up behind her, wrapped around her neck and she was drug for a ways down the road. You can only imagine the damage that would do. She went to the hospital at that time, was treated, had a few complications, and was released. When we saw her Monday, she was extremely emaciated, wheezing, and was told that she had pneumonia, but the medications she was given had not worked…that is why we went to this other hospital.

Back to the car full of laughing people. They told us the woman had received an x-ray and when they went in to go see the doctor he said the x-ray was all clear so he did not feel that that was the problem. He told the patient that he felt it would be best for her to have a test for HIV/AIDS. Immediately, this woman who has been practically whispering, apparently shouted to the doctor she did not want it, that she would give him his x-ray back, all she wanted was meds and then she would be on her way. The response was so abrupt that it seemed to have been hilarious for the rest of the family to witness for this was the reason they were to the point of tears from laughing. They knew she was too scared to be tested for HIV and thought it was hysterical the way she told the doctor she wanted to leave. But that was it. They received a list of medication, without of there being a diagnosis, and they got in the car and there we were on our way.

I was sitting in the very back of our car listening to the story and feeling like I did not quite understand so I asked for a little clarification from the girl sitting next to me. Sure enough, I had understood it. The woman was so scared to be tested or so against it, that she did not want to hear any more that the doctor had to say, she just wanted out. We have been told that there is a pretty bad stigma that comes when people find out they have HIV/AIDS. I asked the girl next to me, “But how is the doctor able to prescribed medications if he doesn’t know what is wrong.” She simply shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. We don’t know the full extent of the situation or even what was going through the woman’s head at the time. I could be that she would rather not know if she has AIDS and possibly be in more pain because she has incorrect medication rather than deal with the stigma. Or maybe she does not have HIV at all and she will heal fine with the medication that the doctor gave her. At the time we weren’t even positive how we should take the family laughing at the whole situation. Maybe that is their form of coping so that they don’t have to think about the possibility. We don’t know. We know that many times there are deep cultural reasons for actions that can baffle us. And we also know every person can think, feel, and act differently in a given situation. We are trying to look at this as an opportunity for a cultural learning experience where we can see a little more insight into what people here think and feel. We hope that this will help us to understand and sympathize more and love better. While knowing that even our reaction is cultural we still allow ourselves to hope that maybe in the future, we can look back on this and help a Christian facing this same issue and help them to see the importance in being tested and getting help despite what others may say.

Who knows. By the end of the day, we were processing a lot together. Struggling between feeling sad for this woman who still does not know what is wrong and trying not to feel upset that we had driven all that way to go to a good doctor, but the woman did not want to listen to him. While feeling frustrated and somewhat powerless to help we are still praying that God will give us insight from this experience and that he will be able to use this to his glory in the future.

Advertisement

~ by Caleb on November 18, 2011.