2006年VOA标准英语-Child Minder Death Sparks South African Mother'

By Delia Robertson
Johannesburg
22 December 2006

In South Africa where AIDS each year kills 350,000, mostly poor people, many South Africans remain uninformed about the disease and how it might affect their lives. But this year the AIDS death of her children's minder has transformed a young suburban¹ mother into an outspoken² treatment activist³. Delia Robertson reports from Johannesburg.

 
(clockwise from left) Adela Mouton, Pumla with Kiera on lap, Jay, Teri, Craig and Quentin Mouton, on Christmas 2005 in Mauritius
Last Christmas Teri Welsh was happily holidaying in Mauritius with her husband Craig, two children, and Pumla, their friend and child minder to 9-year-old Jay, and 2-year-old Kiera.

Within 10 weeks Pumla was ill, and a week after that was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with tuberculosis⁴; eight weeks later, on May 18, an emaciated⁵ shadow of her voluptuous⁶ Christmas-holiday figure, Pumla died of AIDS-complications.

Teri Welsh is a 32-two-year-old businesswoman, and an attractive brunette who says she is a little vain. She and Pumla loved pretty clothes and driving together singing the songs of popular musician Mandoza.

AIDS was something she warned her son Jay about, urging him to be careful later when, in her words, "he would become a 16-year-old whose behavior would be governed by his hormones⁷."

But she says, her knowledge of the disease was limited.

"I didn't really know anything about it, I knew that it couldn't be cured," she said " and I knew that it was a bad thing to get, but I really didn't know much about it, at all. I didn't realize the extent of the problem, I knew there was a problem but I had no idea on what level the problem existed."

 
Pumla and Kiera at family home in Benoni near Johannesburg
When Pumla was diagnosed, Welsh was overcome with grief for her friend, but she says, certain that help was close at hand.

"I was expecting her to breeze into any old government clinic, be handed a couple of bottles of ARVs [anti-retroviral drugs]; I wasn't really sure what the ARVs were going to do, I pretty much reckoned they would keep her alive; but yes, that is what I expected. I expected - so you are positive, its really bad news, but there is treatment and we will all carry on, it is going to be fine," she said.

But Welsh says Pumla was was not convinced.

 "But the day that they gave her results she just became very, very quiet - almost as if she knew something that I did not know, she knew that there was no help," she recalled. "And the day that she was given the news, she was given a death sentence, and she didn't even flinch⁸ - it was almost as if she might have just as well have died on that day. I was the one who was saying, no, no there is treatment, there are things we can do. And she was looking at me, she just seemed to know more than I did, that it wasn't going to happen."

South Africa has the second-highest incidence of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in the world. The South African Actuarial Society says 11 percent of the population, or nearly 4.5 million people are infected.

 
A nurse prepares the medicine for HIV patients in the medical clinic of the Sparrow Rainbow Village in Johannesburg, 28 Nov. 2005
The Actuarial Society reports that in June 230,000 people were receiving anti-retroviral drugs but that another 540,000 who needed the drugs were not getting them.

The government, in particular Health Minister Manto Tshabala-Msimang, has been severely⁹ criticised for slow implementation¹⁰ and even undermining its own plan to treat AIDs patients with anti-retroviral drugs.

Anti-retroviral drugs do not cure AIDS but do reduce the HIV levels in the system, patients become stronger and healthier and can live indefinitely.

Welsh says that there had been so much publicity¹¹ in the media about AIDS and treatment, that she could not grasp why Pumla was not immediately admitted to a treatment program.

"Originally I wasn't sure if there was a miscommunication between her and the clinic. And so I kept saying to her, go back and get the stuff," she said.

"And eventually, she said, 'You don't understand, I can't get it, they have put me on a five month waiting list'; and I said to her, your CD4 count is 13, you can't be on a waiting list. And she said, 'I know, but they have sent me away to die'. And she almost accepted that they had sent her away to die. And I couldn't accept that," she added.

The CD4 count reflects the number of T-cells which fight infection in the blood. A normal CD4 count is between five and 15,00 per milliliter of blood. AIDS treatment professionals say that a patient whose CD4 count is below 200 is fully¹² sick with AIDS and should be treated with anti-retroviral drugs.

By the time the friends learned of Pumla's dangerously low CD4 count of 13, they had exhausted¹³ all the avenues they knew to find treatment. Pumla seemed resigned but Welsh clung to hope until Pumla was rushed back to hospital on May 15.

 
Teri and Craig Welsh
When Welsh saw her the next day, she barely recognized the emaciated, whispering figure in the bed. That same day, Welsh learned for the first time that Pumla had been pregnant and had miscarried the day before, something that may have explained her rapid decline.

 "And her baby girl was six months gestation¹⁴, and was still born, so obviously had to do with the fact that she was pregnant that I didn't know," explained Welsh, "and that the baby was essentially¹⁵ taking the nutrients¹⁶ that her body needed to keep her alive, and as the baby got bigger and was taking more from the mommy, the mommy started getting weaker and weaker and weaker and ultimately neither of them survived.

Her friend's death has transformed Welsh into a vocal¹⁷ AIDS treatment activist, armed with new knowledge and consumed with finding treatment for people who need it. And she needs to find a lot, because not only has she since learned that two more employees are sick with AIDS; but she is now inundated¹⁸ with calls from strangers to help them too.

Welsh asks these people to get the information she needs to help.

"I want you to get a viral load from them and a get CD4 count; and if she is coughing have them to do a sputum test for TB. And then you let me know what the results are, and here is my cell phone number and you phone me with those, and I will try and help you," she said.

Welsh now has a string of contacts from hospitals to clinics to the organization providing treatment under President George Bush's PEPFAR program, and she does whatever it takes to persuade them to include people in their treatment programs.

"But I am not going to surrender, I am not going to . . . if your number is on the board, your number is on the board. But I am not going to let her number be written on the board, if I have an eraser I'm going to try and get it off there," she said. "And that is what I am currently doing, I am just trying to get her name off the board. I need to get the drugs. Just give me the drugs."

Welsh describes herself as passionate¹⁹ and cheeky, characteristics that are helping²⁰ her in her relentless²¹ battle to prevent as many deaths from AIDS as one woman can.

1 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

2 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

3 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

4 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

5 emaciated   

adj.衰弱的，消瘦的

参考例句：

• A long time illness made him sallow and emaciated.长期患病使他面黄肌瘦。
• In the light of a single candle,she can see his emaciated face.借着烛光，她能看到他的被憔悴的面孔。

6 voluptuous   

adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的

参考例句：

• The nobility led voluptuous lives.贵族阶层过着骄奢淫逸的生活。
• The dancer's movements were slow and voluptuous.舞女的动作缓慢而富挑逗性。

7 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

8 flinch   

v.畏缩，退缩

参考例句：

• She won't flinch from speaking her mind.她不会讳言自己的想法。
• We will never flinch from difficulties.我们面对困难决不退缩。

9 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

10 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

11 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

12 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

13 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

14 gestation   

n.怀孕；酝酿

参考例句：

• The gestation period can be anything between 95 and 150 days.妊娠期从95天至150天不等。
• This film was two years in gestation.这部电影酝酿了两年。

15 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

16 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

18 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

20 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

21 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。