Loading summary
Transcript20 lines
- [00:01]
Apple Representative
The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist whether you're running, swimming or sleeping. And it's the fastest charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series 10, available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum compared to previous generations. IPhone Xs are later required. Charge time and actual results will vary.
- [00:30]
Dan Kennedy
As we approach the end of the year. I'm thinking about the next Next year is the year I finally make my Spanish better than my 9 year olds. Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program available on desktop or as an app, and it truly immerses you in the language that you want to learn. I can't wait to use Rosetta Stone and finally speak better than my 9 year old who's been learning Spanish in his own way. Rosetta Stone is the trusted expert for 30 years with millions of users and 25 languages offered. Spanish, French, Italian, German, Korean. I could go on fast language acquisition. Rosetta Stone immerses you in many ways. There are no English translations, so you can really learn to speak, listen and think in that language. Start the new year off with a resolution you can reach today. The Moth listeners can take advantage of this Rosetta Stones lifetime membership for 50% off visit rosettastone.com moth that's 50% off. Unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your Life. Redeem your 50% off@RosettaStone.com moth today.
- [01:39]
This is the Moth Podcast. I'm Dan Kennedy. Many of you know that 2018 is the year Nelson Mandela would have turned 100 and this episode of the Moth podcast is dedicated to the values he fought for promoting equity, community service, education for all, and the ongoing fight to end HIV aids. Moth shows feature stories from everyone, including people whose lives have been affected by HIV and AIDS. Unfortunately, it's a disease that has killed 35 million people, but this disease is preventable and treatable. On this week's episode, we're teaming up with Red, the organization with the goal of a world where no baby is born with hiv. Our first story comes to us from one of our open mic story slams in Washington, D.C. where the theme of the night was betrayal. Here's Jamie Brickhouse live at the Mall.
- [02:37]
Jamie Brickhouse
I hate confrontation. Example I am at my first appointment with a new dentist. My old dentist stopped taking my insurance, so my common law husband Michael said, why don't you just go to my guy? He takes Our insurance, and I've been going to him for years. So I'm sitting in the examination chair, and Lisa, let's call her that, the hygienist has her back to me, and she's slipping through my paperwork, my medical intake forms, and then she freezes. And I see her back stiffen. And then she says, not looking at me, you're HIV positive. And she says it in the way that you might ask, you're a convicted felon. And the comedian in me wants to say, no, I'm just kidding. I joke about that all the time. And what I really want to say is, yeah, you got a problem with that, lady? But I don't say either of those things. I just let the silence linger between us for a while, and then I just say simply, yes, turn the other cheek. After a beat, she says, oh. And then she puts on her latex gloves and she performs the cleaning. So that evening, Michael says, so, how did it go with the dentist? And I said, well, Dr. Flowers, the dentist was a nice old guy. I said, but this weird thing happened with Lisa. And I told him what happened, and he, of course, agreed that it was icky, but we were like, well, you know, what can you do? And then we just went on and didn't think about it. And, oh, three months later, Michael was having his teeth cleaned. And as soon as he was in the examination chair, Lisa said, so I met your partner or husband. Which is it? And he said, jamie, yeah. And he tells me that he's HIV positive. Are you? And Michael hates confrontation almost as much as I do. And he just answers, and he says, no, I'm not. And she says, well, I see that your medical forms haven't been filled out for five years, so we need to get an update on you. And she shoves some blank forms under his nose. And she says, and have you had hepatitis C? Because that could be worse than hiv. I just ask these questions because I need to protect myself. And then she puts on a second pair of latex gloves, a surgical mask over her mouth, and then one of those like, Beekeeper helmets over her head. I'm not kidding. And in this outfit, she performs the cleaning on him, pulling down her sleeve so that no skin is exposed. Michael texts me afterwards and says, we need to find a new dentist. And I called him immediately, and he told me what happened. And he said, I've never been so angry and humiliated in all my life. And that's exactly how I felt when I was in that examination chair. Oh, and by the way, this didn't happen in a small provincial town. It happened on the Upper east side on Park Avenue in New York City. And it didn't happen in 1987 or 1997 or 2007. It happened in 2017. Now, I've been HIV positive since 2002, and for 10 years, I was in the closet about it. It took me a while to get over my own shame and stigma. And then I told family and friends and no one cared. Until Lisa. And at first, Michael and I didn't think there was anything we could do other than stop going to that dentist. But then we started talking to people and we realized that by betraying my patient confidence, Lisa had broken the law. Because there's a little thing called hipaa, Health Insurance Portability act, which means you can't reveal a patient's information to another person. Doesn't matter that it was Michael, my husband or partner or whichever he is. And in New York State, she was the double whammy, because there's a thing called Article 27F, which deals specifically with HIV disclosure. This time I didn't turn the other cheek. I filed complaints with the Health and Human Services Department, the New York State Health Department, the New York City Commission on Human Rights, and it took a few months of tedious back and forth, but I got action. Dr. Flowers admitted that there had been a breach and. And Lisa no longer works there. What did her in, of course, was revealing my HIV status to Michael. But the way I see it, what did her in was her fear and her prejudice and the way she treated two other people. And quite frankly, I hope she never gets a job in the health industry with her. The way she feels about disease, I mean, she needs to go work somewhere like Purell. Thank you.
- [07:51]
Dan Kennedy
Jamie Brickhouse is a New York Times published author and he's a four time Moth Story slam champion. Jamie is currently touring two different solo shows, I Favor My Daddy and the multi award winning Dangerous When Wet Booze, Sex and My Mother, which is based on his critically acclaimed memoir. When we told him that his story would be on the podcast this week, Jamie told us. Your timing is excellent. I just had my teeth cleaned at a new dentist for the first time since the Ugly incident last year. Good timing indeed, Jamie. Next up is a story from Shakira Namwanje. Shakira crafted this story with us over three days in one of our Moth Global Community workshops that we held in Johannesburg, South Africa this past September. So the recording sounds intimate and that's because basically she's telling this Story just in front of the 15 people in the room for the workshop. So that's why it sounds like such an intimate recording. The other thing is a quick word of caution. Shakira's story involves mention of physical abuse and we wanted to give you just a little heads up about that. Here is Shakira Namwanje.
- [09:06]
Shakira Namwanje
I was defiled at the age of 8 years by my uncle with whom I was staying with during my holidays. Because of this ordeal, my mom took me for counseling sessions as a way of dealing with my trauma and to also get rehabilitated. The counseling sessions for me that used to happen every Saturday at 2pm at the clinic were very exciting because I got to meet people my age, I got to meet new friends, and I had someone to talk to at the hospital who was my counselor. She was very jolly and happy and very welcoming. So one Saturday, as we were going for the counseling sessions, as usual, my mom would drop me off and then continue with her work and then come pick me up later on. So on this particular Saturday, I had just completed my primary seven in my vacation and I had just turned 12 years old. So instead of her dropping me off, she actually came with me to the counsellor's office. And it was a normal thing. It didn't raise any alarm. So as we entered, it was surprising to find the happy counselor I was accustomed to look very serious. And as we sat down, my mom sitting next to me, her face had also turned serious. So in that moment I asked myself, like, is something wrong? Had I done something wrong? Had they found out I was not taking my medicine as I was supposed to? And I asked them, like, is everything okay? And then my counselor smiled and she's like, oh, Shakira, everything is all right. So she tells my mom, maybe you should just go ahead and tell her. So I turned to my mom to find out, what is this that they want her to tell me that she's not telling me? And then when I turn to look at her, she's already tearing up, so now I'm more scared. And then she tells my counselor, you should be the one to tell her because I can't. So this is when my counsellor tells me that, do you know what HIV is? And I'm like, yeah. And then she's like, the reason as.
- [11:45]
To why we tell you every day.
- [11:47]
To take your medicine and take it.
- [11:49]
Daily is because you're HIV positive.
- [11:54]
So I ask my mom, I'm like, what does she mean?
- [11:58]
I'm HIV positive. And then she can't speak, she's just telling me, you know what? It's going to be okay. So this is when now it clicks in my head that I am actually HIV positive. So in that moment, I just ran out of the room and go to the bathroom and lock myself inside. I was hit by the moment that I had been fighting so hard to keep behind me because now I could, like, vividly see my uncle defiling me all over again. I was so mad at my counselor because she had promised me that he's gone, he's not going to hurt you again. It's not going to happen again. And it was happening. And I was so mad at my mom because she had died to me for a long time. And I questioned the love, the pampering, everything that I was receiving from her. Was she doing this because I was HIV positive? Was she doing this because I was going to die? Am I actually going to die? So because it's what we knew about being HIV positive, you end up dying. So in that moment, mad at everyone, I decided, what's the point of taking medicine if I'm going to die? What's the point of going to counseling if you know it's not helping? And I later told her, I'm not going back, I'm not taking my medicine anymore. It's pointless. And then she tells me, taking your medication and going for counseling, those are two things that are not up for discussion. Whether you want to or not, you're going to have to go. So the next Saturday, she drags me to the clinic for the usual counseling sessions. So my counsellor says since I'm not ready to talk to her, she's going to now put me in group sessions so I can be with other young people. Now that first of all, I know I'm HIV positive, so I can now engage with other people.
- [14:07]
So I go to the session really.
- [14:09]
Mad and praying I could be anywhere else at that moment. And I said, let me just sit through it and within no time it will be done and I'll be going home. So as I'm sitting there, the counselor says, does anyone want to share what they're going through or any story or whatever? And this girl stands up and says she had just lost her mom and her and her mom had made this pact to take their medication together. And whenever the time came, it was like a game, they would come together and take the medicine. And now that she was gone, she didn't have anyone that is going to be there for her in that moment or remind her to take her medication. So she was so sad. And then other people just randomly started telling their stories. Others were like, I have to work from home, which is a long distance to the clinic, just to come and.
- [15:14]
Get the service or even just to access the medication.
- [15:18]
And then others were like, they're taking medication but they don't have food at home. It is hard to take medicine where, you know, you sometimes get diarrhea sometimes, like the reactions and everything. And they had to take it on an empty stomach. So in that moment, as I was so mad, I realized whatever these people are talking about, whatever they were asking for, I had. I had my mom who would drive me to the clinic. I had food and then I had the counselor. I had people that have been there for me throughout this tough journey, however tough it had been. And that is when I became so appreciative of my life, however miserable or hard and tough it had been. I realized there are people that have faced more than what I had. And for me, this has been like the foundation for my advocacy. Because maybe I cannot give them food, I cannot give them transport, but I can listen to them. I can speak and tell my story. And then when people listen, maybe they're going to address some of those issues. Thank you.
- [16:35]
Dan Kennedy
Shakira namwanji is a 25 year old graduate of the Moths Global Community Program and an activist who works to end sexual abuse. Shakira tells this story every chance she gets to advocate for positive living and peer education. She also counsels people by sharing music, dance and drama. Her story reminds us of the importance of community support. And speaking of support, I mention a little bit about this at the top. December 1st is World AIDS Day and Red is giving people more ways than ever to join the fight again against aids. If you'd like to help, RED has a ton of products available now and they all support the Global Fund and that fund saves lives. To learn more about that, you can Visit their website, red.org that's it for us this week on the Moth Podcast. Thanks for listening and we hope you'll join us next time.
- [17:31]
Dan Kennedy is the author of Loser.
- [17:33]
Shakira Namwanje
Goes First, Rock on and American Spirit.
- [17:36]
Dan Kennedy
He's also a regular host and storyteller.
- [17:38]
With the Moth Podcast production by Emily Couch, Vicki Merrick and Paul Rueest. The Moth Podcast is presented by prx, the Public Radio Exchange, helping make public radio more public at prx. Org.