Capital sentence

There's a lovely couple here in Kupang, that I have known for several years. But only today I found out a little more about them.

It was back in 2004, before they were married, that they decided to get tested. Sadly, the result was that both were positive. Luckily they did get counselling. Unluckily, the counsellor had little knowledge or idea about HIV - not particularly unusual here. So she told them that they had only two months to live! And they believed her - had no reason to distrust her.

So they sold all their belongings and cashed in all their savings to buy a really good set of clothes to be buried in. They arranged their funeral, and their final resting place. And they waited. In fact, both were in good health, so they couldn't see any change occurring, but still...

A couple of weeks before the deadline (a real 'deadline'!) they hired a boat to go out to sea, with the thought of drowning themselves. But both could swim, and feared that one or both might survive. So instead they had a discussion about who should be the first to die, and who should be left. Still, since they both had the same deadline, it didn't seem a huge matter.

A few days before the deadline, they finally met up with Emils from Flobamora, and told him their story. They were still very fit, but assumed that the end would come suddenly. Emils told them that the counsellor was talking balderdash, and that there was no reason for them to die, but they were unconvinced. Luckily, my colleague Yuni was visiting. She had been diagnosed in 1997, eight years previously. And was still very fit, and most clearly still alive. This convinced them that they had been mislead.

They had to start life anew, because they had sold everything and had no savings, but at least they had their lives, each other, - and a really posh set of clothes including expensive shoes that have never been worn!

They got married, and the really good news is that today I heard that they are expecting their first child.

Babé