No Medicine Like Hope

I inhale deeply through my nose. Big mistake. A pungent concoction of gutted catfish, engine fumes, and cigarette smoke lingers on the jetty outside Ranong’s largest fishing factory.

‘Watch your step,’ Father Arnold says as I mount the bow of a weathered long-tail boat swaying in the wake from a passing fishing vessel. He offers a hand, but mine are preoccupied with a week's worth of jasmine rice overflowing from a wafer-thin plastic bag.

Our skipper – a forty-something old Burmese man in three-quarter cargos and a faded Chang Beer singlet with a durry lodged in the gap of a missing canine tooth – brings the outward motor to life with one mighty rip of the starter rope.

We’re en route to Pak Nam, a small island five minutes down the Pak Chan River. Before I know it, the skipper berths the boat alongside a mossy concrete staircase. I follow Arnold’s lead and step from the bow to the slippery stairs, still cradling the rice like a newborn bub.

At the top of the staircase is a narrow concrete path that snakes through a barren, muddy landscape. I haven’t yet seen this side of Ranong. The mudbank below is littered with empty cans of soybeans and Tiger beer; malnourished stray mutts lie in the scarce patches of shade to escape the midday sun; and shanty houses line either side of the path, all precariously balanced on eroding wooden stilts.

Arnold and the Marist health team are setting a cracking pace along the path, determined to escape the midday sun. Just as I catch up, they stop outside a feeble wooden home.  

A woman in her sixties is standing under the shade of a rusted tin roof that won’t stand a chance in the looming wet season. She greets us with a delicate smile and a few Burmese words that go over my head. By the welcoming wave of her arm, I take it she means ‘come in’.  

I leave my shoes at the door and step into the home, scanning the room for a table to place the bag of rice. There isn’t one. There's no furniture, no shower or toilet, and not nearly enough food for the two occupants.

The woman’s husband – one of many HIV AIDS patients the Marist Asia Foundation supports through its Health Project – is sitting cross-legged on the creaky wooden floorboards beside two sleeping mats and an electric fan that's doing little to keep the flies off his frail torso.

I take a seat on the floor opposite the man as the Health Project manager, Sister Angela, unpacks an arsenal of medical devices from a black bag. She takes the man’s blood pressure first.

‘It’s higher than last time,’ Angela warns him as she deflates the cuff on his arm – a sign his condition is worsening.

Next to the blood pressure monitor is a cocktail of pills divided into clear plastic bags. Angela reaches for the bag containing a silver packet of red, oval-shaped pills.

‘One tablet a day,’ she reminds the man as she hands him the bag. Judging by the serious tone of her voice, this isn’t the first time she’s had to remind him.  

Time is ticking. We still have a few more patients to visit back on the mainland and our skipper won’t wait forever. We say goodbye to the couple as Angela assembles the medicine kit.

‘What did the woman say to us when we left?’ I ask Arnold as we reboard the long-tail boat back to the fishing factory.

‘Thank you for the rice and medicine. And thank you for giving us hope,’ Arnold tells me sincerely.

'There's no medicine like hope.'

About the Health Project

There’s no cure for HIV AIDS, but the Marist Asia Foundation supplies medication that wards off its debilitating effects. The problem is not all patients commit to treatment as they don’t understand the severity of the illness. Without medication, the disease will rapidly deteriorate the immune system, making its host highly susceptible to neurological impairments and life-threatening illnesses.

HIV AIDS education is vital for two reasons. One, to inform patients and caregivers of the consequences of the disease and the importance of treatment. And two, to tackle the stigma that exacerbates inequalities faced by patients, such as barriers to employment.

The Health Project has done a lot over the last nineteen years to respond to the needs of the HIV AIDS community in Ranong, but there’s a long way to go to mitigate the spread and symptoms of the disease.

For more information, or to donate to a worthy cause, please visit the Marist Asia Foundation website at the link below.

https://www.maristasiafoundation.org/marist-mission-ranong/hiv-aids/