The Visit

7/11/2012

Hi

This week was another tiring week. Hmm I need to get my energy going. On Wednesday my colleagues asked me to go visit a sick women who works in our cafeteria. Initially one colleague asked as to donate money for this woman as she is receiving cervical cancer treatment.  The amount that she asked for while it seemed like a big amount in Vietnam, it was very small in dollars, and with no hesitation I donated.

A few days later this same colleague asked us to go with her to visit the sick woman.  I was very hesitant to go. While our cafeteria is very small and there are like 5 people that work there, I did not remember the face of the women whom my colleague said was sick.  She asked me two times and both times I flat out said no without consideration. She came to ask me for a third time and without much thought I agreed to go. 

I don’t understand why I changed my mind, it puzzled me as well, and I then attempted to convince one of my colleagues to come with me.  Of course I was not successful.   On our way there, I did not know nor could I recall the face of the woman whom we were going to see.

Once I got there I saw the woman. She is a very sweet woman who always comes around to our desks and asked us for our lunch money at the end of each month. I felt a bit bad once I saw her for not recalling who she was.  That sadness came right off when she came straight to me and greeted me. 

This visit was my first invite to a Vietnamese person house. I felt very much welcome.  During the visit, the women informed us that she had been sick for a while so she went to the hospital.  The first time she went they told her that the health system was short of money so they could not get the specialist for her condition to see.  She waited for several months and went back. 

When she went back she was told that she had cervical cancer. She was informed that surgery was an option that she could take. Before I explain further, please not that Vietnam is a communist country; medical services are supposed to be practically free. However, you must also know that in such systems there is also heavy corruption. 

As previously indicated this woman was informed that surgery was an option; however she must pay some bribery fee before she can be put on the surgery list.  She said while she was not surprise about paying the bribe, she indicated that she was very much surprise about the bluntness of the asking. 

She visited a different medical facility.  There they informed her that she would require a surgery; however they were more reserve on how much bribe she would need to pay to get herself on the list.  Yes she got the surgery and paid the bribe

She also spoke of the reason why she was ill. She indicated that her family members had disturbed a sacred site and someone in that family was suppose to be punished for it.  According to her she went to two fortune teller and they both told her of this. 

I was shocked not by the story but by the fact that a person in her family’s actions are having negative consequence on her health. There are so many questions that I could have asked, however I did not such thing, only that I felt bad that she go the short end of the stick.

So back to what I was saying, I did not understand why I went to the house to visit this woman, especially when I had no intention of going. But when I got home on Wednesday the only answer that I could come up with was that I felt if I was in her position, I would appreciate if someone else visited me.