“No, I want to show my face”

“I want to show my face” she said when I asked to take her picture and said that we could cover her face to protect her identity but she adamantly declined, with such conviction! She represents the patients I treated today who told me their stories. Two women stuck out to me today. The woman above and another who came to the clinic with headaches, full body pain, decreased appetite and trouble sleeping. I delved further asking about dietary habits, about whether the feeling was worse when standing whether they were having blurry vision and reviewing their blood pressure diligently. Then I asked about how long they’ve been in Bangladesh and what the journey was like, did everyone make it? The first patient looked at me with her eyes filling up, “I once had 7 children and a brother and sister-in-law”... “three of my children and my brother and sister in law were killed in front of me and now we are only a family of 6”. They were killed before they could cross the border from Myanmar to Bangladesh, and the men that killed her family were in army uniform—presumably Myanmar army as further news breaks of the atrocities that have been ongoing. She went on to tell me that when she thinks about this she can’t sleep she can’t eat and her body has intractable pain. We talked for a bit and she seemed lighter, just talking about it. The immediate next patient has exactly the same symptoms and her story was somewhat different but still full of loss. She walked for days on end to come to Bangladesh and one day her son went missing, she has no idea where he went or whether he is still alive and the thought of that recreates her symptoms. 

While there are some efforts to help with psychological trauma it is likely not enough and certainly difficult to plug people in to these services. 

I won’t spend any other time talking about anything else because the image of this woman is the image of every man woman and child here. Resilience, Strength and wanting,  no NEEDING to be heard and have a voice. I hear you. We hear you. And we will do what we can, you are not alone.