Injustice

I felt yucky most of the day, dirty, sad, disappointed and angry- and all because of a phone call. Mbamie is expecting, which is so exciting and amazing. Her first child in America. A physical presence reaffirming the reunification of husband and wife after many horrid years of separation due to war. They have been through so much and it's exciting that God is not done with them yet. When I think of all they have lived through, I am very much in awe and think of what an honor it is to be able to help even in the smallest way.

Mbamie nearly died giving birth to her first child. The baby did die and she would have if it wasn't for an off-duty doctor stopping by the clinic where she was, recognizing her family name and taking it upon himself with much risk to transport her to a hospital (several of which refused to take her due to her great risk of death). He took her to his hospital in a taxi while she went into a coma like state and did an emergency c-section, saving her life.

She lived and had two other children, the second of which is now 5 years old and just met her dad for the first time. The other pregnancies also had complications.

Mbamie and her husband are understandably anxious to see the doctor. We jumped through all the hoops and placed numerous phone calls to finally get her on medicaid. Today I called the doctor I had in hopes of getting her in, and she is all filled up.

So I tried my second pick. The receptionist was more than leery of taking on Mbamie. I said I was her translator and she was really lippy saying that they had to talk to her and what language did she speak and did she know ANY English and she would have to check with the nurse and doctor about it. I felt so horrid after that call. This can't be possible. I called the International Rescue Committee (the program that is bringing over refugees here) to make sure- "discriminating due to language is illegal right? I mean more than just nasty, rude, insensitive and heartless- it's illegal too right?" Yep, they said it is, but doctors can quite easily jump around who they want and don't want by saying that they are all filled up or can not take any new patients at this time.

I called back to the doctor to find out if the doctor or nurse had an answer yet and the receptionist very smartly told me that I needed to wait for them to call me back. I did say that I was just trying to figure out what exactly the problem was.

Agent B was off half the day, so I got him to go get Mbamie from work and got her on the phone to make the call. The thing is, I've met this doctor and he seemed really good. I've had lots of ladies go to him and loved him. I wanted her with a good caring doctor, even if the receptionist needs a new heart. I coached Mbamie through her answers. She really can understand quite a bit, but like many new language speakers is shy about speaking it, then with her heavy accent, it's really hard for people to understand what she says. She repeated her name spelling about 3 times and they still don't have it right. The lady kept saying- ok, is that right and Mbamie kept saying the correct spelling until we both giggled and she said- sure that's right. They'll get it fixed when we come in.

The good news is that they are taking her. The bad news is that the appointment is a month away. Mbamie will be into her 2nd trimester by then, but I hated to try for something better after we finally got an affirmative on something.

CEO, please watch over this child and Mbamie. May this office and all the staff be warm, welcoming, considerate and loving toward Mbamie, her husband and baby. Keep them safe in your care, and give them peace especially as they continue to wait to see a doctor.