26 August, 2006
ANDRES
The blue baseball cap hung from the corner of his bed, the one he always wore driving passengers around town on his motoconcho—small motorcycle, before the chronic diarrhea and weight loss left him too weak to leave his bed. For an hour, I would encourage him to drink the calorie and protein-rich shake I’d made, feeling terrible as I watched his stomach convulse violently with each sip. Holding his boney hand, I tried to convince ANDRES that he was going to get better, that the antiretroviral drugs he was now receiving just needed time to work. Suddenly, I remembered a picture of him on his motorcycle I’d taken a few months earlier. “Just a few more weeks and you’ll be driving around again,” I said to ANDRES. Tears welled in his eyes when he saw the picture, but he managed a smile. Now as his motoconcho whizzes by in a cloud of dust, I am the one smiling. Five months ago, Andres began antiretroviral treatment with BRA through the support of the Clinton Foundation and the Dominican Ministry of Health’s DIGECITTS. He visits BRA’s new health complex at Batey Cinco Casas every month where he receives critical health care and essential medicines. The BRA’s AIDS Patient Fund also provides him with food aid for his family. Recently, ANDRES was one of 10 patients to receive a Biosand water filter donated by BRA. He has lost his wife to AIDS and takes care of two stepchildren and a handicapped daughter, all by himself. When he first joined our HIV/AIDS program, ANDRES had sold almost all of his possession, thinking he was not going to live. Luckily, he’d held onto his motorcycle. Now that he is healthier and can work for a few hours each day, he is supporting his family again. By saving ANDRES’ life, BRA is also able to protect the lives of his three children.
