Entangled--2021

She looks like the slum has hurt her. She is a little less kept than most and her baseball cap is an American "pepe" with an obscenity written on it. 

Her 11-month-old baby boy is sick but he doesn't look too awful bad. And by that I mean he does not appear "toxic," as we like to say in medical circles. Mom says he has had some diarrhea and fever, but gastroenteritis seems to be the illness of the day. 

When I look at his dossier, I see his HIV test is positive. And he was born at home as most babies in Soleil are. 

So I dutifully ask mom if she has taken baby boy to an HIV clinic that will follow him and manage his antiretroviral therapy. She says yes, but she misses some appointments. 

I ask mom if she is taking her antiretrovirals and she said yes, but not always. 

And when I push the issue about her "noncompliance" with these important meds, she says she is afraid. Because she tells me all of her neighbors in the slum near her would hold it against her if they find out that baby boy has SIDA. She also adds very nonchalantly that when she attempts to go to the HIV clinic outside of Soleil, gangs are frequently shooting near the clinic, and that seems to get in the way of her accessing medical care for her and her baby boy. 

The slum seems to entangle everyone here in one way or another. 

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