Busani...

Busani is one of our newer patients. He is a 34 year old man with a CD4 count of 6. To put that in perspective, a healthy person will have a CD4 count of between 600-1500. HIV attacks the CD4 cells and results in a compromised immune system which is susceptible to all sorts of opportunistic infections. When he arrived last week, he could not move and did not want to speak to anyone. He was very weak and uncomfortable.

I have gotten to know him over the past week and a half and he’s doing remarkably well now. He is up and around on his own and I’ve discovered that his English is perfect. We have just been hanging out talking or watching Zulu soap operas together and he’s little by little opening up to me. He is scheduled to begin ARV training in 2 weeks when he is hopefully stabilized. Yesterday, I took him to get ice cream so he could “escape” for a while. He has told me how bored he is and how badly he wants to get home. He loved taking pictures…here are a few of them: