16.06.06 - 13:43

Hello everyone! This is not the promised update about Morocco, but instead an update on the Espoir et Vie crisis.

Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed. I don't think any of you could have an idea of just how much this helps. But here's an example:

Hussein just told me about two little girls who have been at the office every day, waiting for there to be enough money to pay for their medicine. They are both HIV+. Both of their parents are HIV+. They need a course of Bactrim, a basic antibiotic, which costs 900um ($3.36). Every day, they've been coming in sick, waiting for medicine the price of a tall Frappuccino.

Hussein told me another really disturbing fact: CTA, the only AIDS medical treatment center in country, provides NOTHING for children. Nothing. Espoir et Vie, again, is one of the only places, if not the only place, that does.

I've given Hussein all the disposable cash I have. I translated my posting asking for contributions. And he, a masculine man in a country that detests open displays of unhappiness, began to wipe away tears.

He had a meeting yesterday, and told Espoir et Vie members about the generosity of Americans. "Here are people who have already given $20 million in aid to our country. [The US government contribution to the AIDS fight.] But now that they see this emergency, there are people many thousands of kilometers away, people who have never met us and don't know us, who are sending us money. The Americans..." He said that five people in the meeting began to cry.

So, thank you. Thank you for helping these people in so much need. Thank you for demonstrating the generosity of the United States. Thank you for believing in me, and in my projects.

And, again, if anyone else can give even $3.36, please let me know at mollytania (at) gmail (dot) com

I am so humbled by all of this. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

previous - next