My New Boss

I love my new boss! She’s a person of few words but her occasional smile and penetrating brown eyes are sufficient incentive for me to work harder than I have ever worked before. In spite of her diminutive size, she’s able to command great respect. The pay itself isn’t great but the job she offers is immensely challenging and overflowing with rewards.

My boss’s name is Miriam. She is two years old and HIV positive.

Many people would consider Miriam fortunate because she has a mother (also HIV positive) which makes Miriam a "single" orphan. "Double" orphans have neither a mother nor father. Both Miriam and her mother, Ethel, will take medication regularly for the rest of their lives. That’s assuming, of course, that they can find money for transportation to the nearest clinic where the medication is supplied by the government; that they receive enough nutrition to keep their immune systems as healthy as possible; that they don’t get discouraged and quit taking the medication because of the side effects; and that the challenges of survival itself as a widow and child in Africa don’t overwhelm them.

It was knowledge of Miriam and the other 12 million orphans in Africa that motivated me to launch a new career. Actually, the new career has been in the planning for months. I just hadn’t met the little boss I would work for. But I’m not the only one working for Miriam. Along with my husband, Jac, and the support of Graceland’s president, John Sellars, HealthEd Connect, a new non-governmental organization (NGO) affiliated with Graceland, was recently incorporated with the mission

To empower women and children through evidence-based health care, education, and advocacy programs.