Gertrude

Happy endings are always—well, happy. Gertrude (maybe 2 or 3?) came with her dad today to get tested. She was quite healthy and happy as well—she kept on smiling. Her dad said that she’s probably happy because she doesn’t know that she’ll be prick by a needle yet—that is always an advantage. She didn’t even change her mood as I flashed the needle in front of her—usually, kids cry at the first sight of it. As I bled her (and her crying), I asked whether he (her dad) has been tested yet. I asked that question, because usually parents and children get tested at the same time and I noticed that he didn’t have a form to get tested. The he shared that he and his wife are HIV-positive—but they’ve accepted it as a fact of life. He said that there are some things that you could not change and you have to learn how to live with it—positively. I looked at him and asked, “are you healthy—do you take good care of yourself?” “Yes, I do (I forgot what he actually said, but you get the point).” And honestly speaking, he did look good—a bit slender, but in a healthy sort of way. At the get-go, I got to like this person—he was easy to talk to and quite friendly. He had a caring persona about him. Anyways, I only got about 2 mls of blood from Gertrude but she turned out to be negative—thank God. I ran some extra tests because one of them was inconclusive and I wanted to be right about her diagnosis. But after seeing the results—I was quite satisfied and quite happy. Later as I was cleaning up for the day, little Gertrude came by to the tent and I let her sit right next to me as I cleaned the table. She wanted to share her little beanie bear with me, too. Haha, I love it when I get to play with little kids—it really made my heart smile. One of my co-workers, Grace, said after noticing her sunny disposition that this girl is truly loved and taken care for at home. And, I do agree—you can definitely tell when I child is being taken care of by their parents. That made my day.