Perspective

Yesterday, I met a patient who worked as a security guard inDurban. He was friendly and willing to talk about his life, so I asked him a lot of questions. He was HIV positive and came to us with a very low CD4 count. He had been on antiretroviral therapy for 9 months now, and his last CD4 was still low, but markedly improved. He had 3 children that lived in the Eastern Cape (about 4-5 hours away) but he lived in Durban with his sister. I asked him how much he made as a security guard. He made only about R2,000 ($320) a month. He said he sent most of it home, which prompted me to ask how much his rent was. I was shocked to hear him say that he pays R50 ($8) a month in rent for a two bedroom apartment. I laughed and told him that I should move there (we pay about 70 times that amount per month, and our rent is relatively cheap by American standards). He seemed confused, and said it wouldnt be safe for me there. He basically described it as a township where it was very unsafe. He started to say its a place where "only the black people" live, but caught himself and just said I shouldnt go there.

I imagine it wouldnt be safe for us there. When your laptop is equivalent to an 6 months of work, its no wonder things get stolen so often in this town. Makes me wonder how I can justify spending so much when other people have so little. But its what we are used to I suppose. Someone who makes $100,000 a year wouldnt want to live on a salary of $30,000 just as someone who makes $3,000 a year couldnt imagine living on only $500, the way most people in rural Africa do.

Now feeling curious, if not guilty about what my patients made, I asked my next patient what his income was. He sold newspapers on the street, and made R600 (less than $100) per month. He smiled widely and said he was just happy to be making anything at all.