Assumptions SL blog 2

The word assumption describes Project Lazarus to the T. At the surface Project Lazarus is a transition home for people living with HIV and AIDS. However volunteering there for a month has taught me so much. Immediately I want to go in there and be non-judgmental. I keep reminding myself that they are more than their disease and that they hate people to look at them differently. I’m assuming that they want to forget about their disease and live a normal life; I assume that they are not comfortable with their disease and will not want to talk about it. I assume that I will be learning and not teaching, that I will be a fly on the wall in what is their home. Pretty much all of my assumptions were wrong. I was flabbergasted at just how much the residents did not know about their disease an equally as shocked on how willing they were to learn. The majority of them are open and honest about their past and greet us with nothing but happiness and anticipation when we walk in the door. I am learning so much from them, but they are also so eager to learn from me.

I knew before beginning work at Project Lazarus that most HIV/AIDS patients are also substance abusers. I had knowledge of the disease and spent about half of last semester directing a play and researching the history of AIDS. I honestly had no idea that someone could live with this disease for so long and barely know the basics. I was then told that most residents had some level of illiteracy, so the pamphlets that their doctor handed them upon their diagnosis meant nothing. The residents are proof at how urban myths are spread and the danger ignorance bears on the community. Often those of us that have the privilege of formal education don’t understand how people can believe things we see as foolish, but last week I saw ignorance rear its ugly head in the form of twisted knowledge and one voice leading the masses. All it takes is for one person to sound as though they are aware and the community which is incapable of thinking on their own is bamboozled into believing the false claims. The ignorance is not spread with malicious intent, yet one or two assumptions have led to the spread of these falsehoods; “If he said it, then it must be true”. They are so smart and so willing to learn that I hope I have enough to teach them. They give me hope that the world is not such a dark and demented place and that AIDS is not a death sentence. They open my eyes to the fact that the rich are getting richer and our poor are being left to die in their own ignorance.

These social injustices are not new to our era; they are also present in Shakespeare times, what if any comparisons can you make from my experiences?