Today, March 21, is Human Rights Day in South Africa, and I have a cold.
It's inevitable. Whenever I fly on long distanceinternational flights, and it is a long distance between Minneapolisand Cape Town, South Africa,despite the prodigious application of hand sanitizer and only touching the doorhandles of the airplane restrooms with a paper towel, I seem to always catch acold. And the cold I contracted on this trip is a doozy.
I have coughed and blown my nose on planes, trains and in automobilesfrom Cape Town to Johannesburgto Pretoria. I have purchasedsyrups, lozenges, tablets, tissues, sprays and vitamins at every pharmacy andchemist shop I have passed. I have ordered pumpkin soup in restaurants and sippedherbal tea at the guest house where I'm staying. Despite the self medication,the only time I feel any relief is when I stand in a shower with the steambillowing around me, or when I submerge myself in a tub with the hot waternearly overflowing onto the floor.
My over-the-counter purchases of cold medicines could outfita small clinic. I have spent the same amount of money to provide a bit ofrelief from my cold as it would cost to give a person in Africawith HIV/AIDS life-sustaining anti-retroviral medications for two months; or totreat someone with tuberculosis; or to prevent several people from contractingmalaria. I have disposed of more food that I just didn't have the appetite forthan most people in the townships will eat in a week. Running hot water tocreate a virtual steam room to ease my breathing has resulted in me consumingmore water than an African family would probably use in a year.
Being sick in South Africaon this national holiday has reminded me of how much I take for granted. I canspend whatever I want on pills and potions to ease my discomfort. A deliciousmeal is only a room service call away. A hot soothing shower or bath is asconvenient as a turn of the faucet.
Access to food, water and adequate medical care are the mostbasic of human rights. And human rights, like food, water, and medical care, issomething that many of us just don't think about. That is, of course, until weno longer have them.
