Interview

Esmeralda Santa

English 21003, Section M

Professor Matyakubova

4 November 2017

Interview

                                             Interview: Deadliest Epidemic in Modern History

Introduction

      In my research paper I will discuss the impact HIV/AIDS has had on the world and do research on specific aspects such as an individual impact, economic impact, media, and religious impact. For this interview I interviewed my global high school teacher because she was affected by HIV when she was younger. She came from a poor country and the disease did not only impact her financially but also personally. This interview will be used as an appeal to pathos because it will show how tragically one can be affected by a disease.

Question 1: How old were you when your mother was diagnosed with HIV?

    I was 16 when my mom was diagnosed and my little brother was 10.

Question 2: Where there any signs to think something was wrong?

    At first, no. Everything was normal. My family and I had our own home in Nigeria. My brother and I would go to school and my mom would go to work at the clinic for adults. Then gradually I started noticing changes in her. She ate less, sometimes nothing at all. She was always coughing and the moment she came from work, she had to lay down, to sleep. The first alarm went off when, one day I was cleaning the house and saw tissues of blood under her bed. After that I begged her to go to the hospital, but she said it was nothing and that she was just getting over a cold.

Question 3: When she finally does go, how does this affect your family?

    She finally went to the hospital, when she fainted at work. It was there when the doctors told us that she was in the third stage of HIV and would not make it past 5 months, with treatment. They had to keep her in the hospital, which meant she couldn’t work anymore. I had to take on more responsibilities and no of them was to quit school and get a job in a factory.

Question 4: How did you feel when you had to leave school?

     Leaving school, saying goodbye to friends and teachers was one of the hardest thing to do, but there was no other options. Also, as you might know in Nigeria, it is not mandatory for a child to go to school. For this reason, I left school because I had to support myself and my little brother.

Question 5: Did you find out how your mother got HIV?

     Yes. My mom worked in a clinic and it turns out that there had been a patient there who had the disease. She came in contact with the patient's blood and it entered inside her system through a cut. At the time, my mom said she did not feel anything and it came as a total shock to her. 

Question 6: How were the visits to your mom, how did you feel seeing her?

       In the beginning I had mixed feelings. I hated her for putting me and my brother in this situation, but I was also sad because I was going to lose her. My brother and I visited her everyday and we would tell her stories, to help ease the pain. My brother would draw paintings for her. Those last 5 months were the hardest months of my life. There was a lot of tears, but there was also laughter. 

Question 7: When you got a job, did the money situation improve?

        Honestly, no. There were so many things to pay: medical bills, rent, food, and clothing. Often times, the money I made in the factory was not enough that I would be in debt. My mom did not leave us anything and I had to work long hours just get paid five dollars an hour. Things got so bad that I had to beg my aunt to let us move in with her, insisting that I would pay half the rent. I thought the situation would improve a little but it turned out my brother and I only had each other. My aunt took advantage of my presence and sometimes make me pay everything, threatening to kick us out if I didn’t.

Question 8: Based on my research I found that, having HIV can make you poorer, do you agree with this statement?

       Do I ever. My brother and I went from eating 3 meals a day to sometimes going to bed hungry. I no longer owned any possessions such as toys, CD’s. I had to give up or leave everything behind. 

Question 9: How long did you have to go through hardships? 

      I had to work in the factory till I was 19, so I had to go through 3 years of hard work. The days seemed so long and never ending. At the time, I thought that this would be my life until I die, but I was able to find an escape. One of my uncles was able to get my brother and I visas to go to the U.S and that is when my life made a complete u-turn. We moved in with  my cousin, got my GED and went to college to study education. 

Question 10: How has HIV affected your life, in a positive or negative way?

     HIV has affected me in a positive and negative way. It took my mother away from me, made my brother and I suffer, but in the end it gave us a new opportunity. I know that I would have never came to the U.S if my mom had not gotten sick. I miss her more than anything, but I am finally able to live a decent life.

                                                                    Work Cited

Naquia, Ruth. Personal interview. 9 November 2017