Chipego Caitlin Mpongo October 11, 2006-February 7, 2007. "If there was a price for life I would have paid it. If I could have bought it to save her I would have." Those were the words my friend, Mrs Mpongo, sobbed into my shoulder as I held her on the side of the road. She had called me minutes earlier to tell me her daughter had died. Let me start from the beginning...Mrs Mpongo is the head nurse at our clinic and her family has embraced me since I came to my village in August. We've worked, cooked, played, and gardened together for the last 8 months. When she gave birth to a baby girl last October she introduced her to me as my "namesake" and another Chipego Caitlin was welcomed into our village. Two Thursdays ago Chipego musyoonto (little Chipego) had a fever and trouble breathing and was rushed to the hospital here in Choma. Her parent's waited with her Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Monday tests were finally done to try and diagnose her condition. When I came to the hospital to visit on Tuesday the doctor had still not come to read the tests but she was showing signs of improvement. The x-rays showed pneumonia in her lungs, and Mrs Mpongo had advised the nurses to give Chipego medicine while they waited further information from the doctor. It was around 10am on Wednesday morning that Chipego looked her mother in the eyes and then took her last breath. Mrs Mpongo told me she only wished that Chipego could have talked so she would have been able to tell her what was going on inside of her. Over the last 8 months I have been so immersed in the poverty here that I have somehow become a bit numb to the situation. It is easy to forget that poverty truly is a matter of life and death. We take so much for granted living in the US. Health care at its very worst in the US is still far better than the health care system here in Zambia. As a child I too had pneumonia, had I been born here in Zambia, most likely I would have died. Through the funeral and burial process in my village I have heard people comfort the family by saying, "it was God's will." Though I am fully aware of God's presence through this situation, I honestly do not believe it is God's will for people to live in poverty, for children to die because of medical negligence. Had this same scenario played out in the United States we would be screaming about malpractice and fighting for justice. On Friday we buried Chipego on a farm in our village. The choir sang "It is well with my soul". She fought for her last breath here on earth, but I am sure Chipego was having no problem breathing in the sweet scents of heaven. A little girl's body lies beneath the soil now, but her memory will remain alive in my heart. Cherish the time you have and those you love.
