The hospital became Anita’s greatest enemy after she is being taught about HIV or AIDS by Mrs Lads, her Basic Science teacher.
“One you notice that someone is having fever, fatigue, sore throat or rash, you should take that person to the nearest hospital for an HIV test because the person is likely to be having HIV”.
Anita became too invested in those words and read between the lines. In her life, HIV became the new trend and if anyone is having any of these symptoms, Anita feels the person is HIV positive.
Unfortunately, Anita fell ill after waking up on a Monday morning when she was supposed to get ready for school.
“Mummy, I think I’m having sore throat and I’m feeling tired,” she yelled. Anita’s mum, Mrs Brandy rushed to her daughter’s room after hearing her feint voice.
“What’s the problem?,” Mrs Brandy carried little Anita with her two hands just as she carried her when she was a baby.
“Mummy, I think I’m having HIV,” scared Mrs Brandy dropped her daughter on the bed. She got so scared and surprised that her daughter has come in contact with an HIV/AIDS patient and has contracted the disease.
“Where did you get that from and who told you that you’re having HIV?,” Mrs Brandy asked in a trembling voice. She became so confused. Stylishly, she didn’t want to touch her daughter anymore after she has revealed that she’s having HIV/AIDS. She moved to the back and started talking to her from afar.
“That’s what Mrs Lads said. She said that anytime we are having sore throat or fatigue, we may be having HIV,” she said while she turns her back at her mum, breathing heavily and scared to go to the hospital.
“Let’s go to the hospital,* this became the scariest moment for Anita.
“No mum. I’m fine. I don’t want to go to the hospital. I don’t want the doctor to tell me to my face that I’m having HIV,” she yelled and ran to the bathroom to lock up herself so that her mum won’t be able to carry her to the hospital.
Before she could lock up herself, her mum ran in with her, bundled her straight to the hospital. On getting to the nearest hospital to them, Anita fainted already at the back of her mum’s car.
“Nurse!!!” Mrs Brandy screamed while she bumped into the doctor’s office to attend to her daughter without any prior approval from any of the nurses nor waiting for the queue.
Immediately the doctor wanted to inject Anita to revive her back to life when she yelled.
“Don’t inject me. I didn’t faint. I was scared because I’m sure I’m having HIV and I didn’t want you to tell me to my face,” the doctor laughed and was so surprised to see a kid of nine years who was so curious about HIV/AIDS. Her mum was so surprised and angry to see her nine year old daughter pretend to faint just because she’s scared of going to the hospital.
He tuned in his television and played the cartoon channel because that was the best way to make kids get carried away especially when they will be given an injection. Immediately, she got carried away and he sharply put in the needle on her bum, took out some blood in her to run HIV test and to know why her body was being unnecessarily hot.
Yeeee, she screamed.
Anita and her mum finally got to seat at the reception waiting for the test result to be ready.
“Mummy, he’s coming to tell me that I have HIV,” Anita yells at the hospital reception.
“Madam, your daughter is having typhoid and malaria but it shows in the test result that she has been experiencing some symptoms since a long time. Is that true?,” the doctor faces Anita to know if he was right.
“I was thinking I had HIV and I didn’t want to come to the hospital because I was scared,” she cried.
At last, Anita was admitted into the hospital for three days while she was receiving treatments for typhoid and malaria. Her fright for going to the hospital reduced drastically and after a week, Anita could go to school again to meet her peers and let everyone whom she has told about being HIV positive know that she’s never a patient of HIV.
Since then, she goes to the hospital regularly for a general check up to be sure there is nothing wrong with her and that she’s not having HIV.
This story is both humorous and touching—it highlights the power of a child’s imagination and how misinformation can cause unnecessary fear. Anita's journey from panic to understanding is a gentle reminder of the importance of clear, age-appropriate health education.
Exactly
It’s good that she was taught but she was too serious about the whole thing
Lol, I can imagine Anita’s fears. I used to be very scared of sharing things when younger because I didn’t want to contact HIV/AIDS.
I was very scared then ohh😅😅
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This is the most important reason why we should be careful with what we tell little children, you can imagine how scared Anita became and the emotional trauma it might have caused her.
Yes ooh
I’m like that too. I hold on to so many things that I hear
Wow, this broke my heart and made me laugh at the same time. Poor Anita was really carrying the weight of the world on those tiny shoulders. It’s wild how something as innocent as a classroom lesson can spark so much fear in a child. I can’t even blame her, when you’re that young, everything feels so real and so urgent. Her reaction shows just how deeply kids can internalize what they’re taught.
Also, I felt for the mom too, confused, panicked, and unsure how to respond. I'm so glad Anita is okay, and even better, that she now goes for regular checkups. Health anxiety is real, even for little ones.
Yesss
Looks like you loved my story😅
I’m happy
The things we hear have a way of putting us in perpetual fear if we aren't careful.
Haha. I laughed at some point. Children can imagine things way different from how we imagine.
Anita only acted on what her teacher told her. Her teacher did not analyze it well for the children what HIV/AID means and not the common symptoms that everyone has for malaria and typhoid.
I'm happy she was able to overcome her fear of going to the hospital.