Julianna

For the last two years I lived in the U.S., I helped a young woman from the Ivory Coast learn English. I actually don’t think I helped her much with her English, but I did help her buy a computer and learn how to use it. And I helped her find a job. And move. And understand her paystub. And did her taxes. Life stuff.

She called me yesterday to say she was going into the hospital to have a fibroid mass removed from her stomach. She was very frightened. She told me someone from her church was taking her to the hospital and someone else would take her home. My experience with Julianna was, whenever she needed someone to help her, they made large demands in return. Clean my house. Braid my hair (an eight-hour job). Pay me $10 to take you 10 minutes to your job. Her very tiny network was made up of other African immigrants, who must have had a tough entry into the U.S. themselves and didn’t seem disposed to do her any favours. I wasn’t sure about these church people, so I called my church people--the UUs in West Chester--to see if any of them could visit her. Fatima came through, and visited her in the hospital. I was afraid Julianna, with her broken English, would have a hard time getting her questions answered by the doctor or nurses. Fatima said Julianna was doing as well as could be expected and that the pastor’s wife was with her. Turns out the pastor’s wife, like Fatima, is from India, and Fatima gave her high marks. Julianna is staying with the pastor and his wife, post op, so I was glad to get a good report from Fatima.

Another UU, the church secretary, has offered to help Julianna apply for Medicaid. Julianna applied herself and was turned down because she doesn’t have a signed lease (she lives with a woman from Cameroon) or utilities in her name. Hopefully the UU secretary can help her negotiate the Medicaid chutes and ladders. I’m so grateful for UU communities, of which I’ve been a member since the mid-1980s.
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