Cholera is for “Dirty People”--January 2016

 Refugee Camp–Anse-a-Pitres (Photo by John Carroll)

Did you know you have to be a dirty person or come from a dirty family to get cholera? I didn’t know this either but that is what the poor people on the Haitian/Dominican border think.

It is embarrassing to get cholera. It is embarrassing to let your little baby get cholera. It means that you are not taking care of things well.

What will the neighbors think?

So if a family member is sick, wait till dark to go to the health dispensary. Even though it is probably closed, your neighbors won’t see you carry the sick person away. And it may work in your “favor” because if your loved one dies, you don’t have to pay to get the body out of the hospital or morgue or whatever.

And remember we are told that there has not been that much cholera here anyway. The authorities should know. Right?

And if your baby is 13 months old and is very ill and gets a simple packet of oral rehydration powder and dies in the river bed as mother tries to cross the border, well that happens.

You are probably just dirty anyway.

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org