Development

Eight dollars for Elizabeth

Peter was doing a workshop about small businesses for five weeks, which took place in a slum of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. Participants of the workshop were refugees, who escaped from the misery of civil war in the north of Uganda and tried to survive by selling used clothes, baked corn or making charcoal. He went to Uganda as a volunteer in the summer during his study of medicine at the university. One of the participants who had arrived to Kampala shortly before was Elizabeth. She did not miss any lecture. But one day she did not come. People were asking where Elizabeth was. After short whispering, the leader of the refugees said: "One of the women said that Elizabeth is sick. Maybe someone should go and visit her."

Peter and one of the lecturers from the workshop Keziah went to the slum to visit her. All the way there, children were shouting "Mzungu, mzungu" which means white man. After ten minutes of walking through the slum the white men entered a small hut made from corrugated plates. Elizabeth was laying on the mat in the corner of the room and suffering in agony. Elizabeth was not able to lift up her head and was barely whispering. Keziah went closer to her to understand, what Elizabeth said and then explained the situation to Peter.

Elizabeth had tonsillitis and because she was poor and HIV positive, she couldn't go to the hospital. Elizabeth was desperate and asked her neighbor to cut out her tonsils with a knife.

When they came back the participants of the workshop were still there. "I am afraid, that she will die because of infection. Can we get some penicillin for her?" asked Peter with a feeling of helplessness.

"Yes we can, but we need 15000 Ugandan shilings, which is about 8 dollars" said Keziah. Peter immediately removed his wallet and gave money to Keziah. Peter left the place that day, because he wanted to get back to his house before sunset and Keziah went to buy penicillin.

The next week, when Elizabeth came for the workshop about small business, Peter could not believe his eyes. She looked even better than before. He believes, that together with Keziah he saved the life of Elizabeth by buying penicillin that day.