Ten dollars can go a long way...

Today Nicole and I visited another CLP (night literacy class) in the village of Sardu, near Foya. We cruised up and down a bumpy dirt road, children waving and grinning madly at us as we passed them. Upon arrival, we met the students who have been receiving herring in the village’s church (Christianity is the dominant faith in Liberia).

 A laughing CLP student with her herring, and a little girl who doesn't know what to think of me.

We then went to SP’s VCT center, that’s Voluntary Counseling and Training. This program provides therapy, antiretroviral medication, and counseling for people living with HIV. It is the only place in this district of Liberia where people can get antiretroviral medicine.  People travel hours and hours each month to get a 30 day supply of the medicine they need to keep HIV restrained, and thus to survive. Some travel these long distances even though they don’t have the ten US dollars they need to pay for the month’s supply. Local health workers often help out – even though they don’t make very much themselves, they pay for the people’s treatment out of their own pockets, unwilling to let them walk away without being treated. I drop ten dollars on a couple of craft beers in Portland all the time...talk about perspective. I'd give those IPAs up in a heartbeat to pay for people's medication if I could.  Though we hear about inequalities like this all the time from a distance, it's far more grounding to experience it in real life. The importance of this program really can’t be overstated.

For the past nine months, people who have been coming to receive treatment also have been able to take home cans of Alaska herring. The herring’s nutritional benefits are especially vital for whose health and immune systems are compromised by the virus. As we chatted with about their experience with the herring, people consistently said they needed more herring. One man said he takes it back to his family, which includes nine children. The hospital administrator here told us that the herring really does make a difference, and he would like for those at the VCT to be able to continue to receive it if possible.  

         People at the VCT, including a woman wrapping up her herring for travel Liberian-style.