Turning Tears into Smiles

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My father is no more.

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But I wish him to be in heaven.

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He motivated me a lot.

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He was a professional ambulance driver in the

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Kalyan department.

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He always used to tell me that if

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you can make a person smile in sadness

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or if you can turn someone's tears into

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happiness then you have done a great deed.

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I came to MSF in 2011.

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And my journey started from here.

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When I was working in the project of

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MSF Kalajar on the post of health promoter

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we worked for about 4 years.

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I learnt a lot from that.

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I learnt that the moralized people who make

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them very different from the society to the

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extent that the medical team can't go they

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are very eager for treatment and medicines.

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They want someone to come and help them.

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Then I was selected from MSF for Tripura

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for malaria intervention.

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At first, people scared me a lot that

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there is a mountainous area where there is

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no drinking water and there is no electricity.

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There are many animals in the jungle.

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I said, man lives there.

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We are going there for man.

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How do they live there?

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When we used to cross the river in

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the mountainous area there used to be leeches

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in our clothes and feet.

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Sometimes there used to be some fungus in

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our clothes and feet.

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When we used to cover our clothes there

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used to be big leeches.

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Many people used to get scared like a

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big balloon sucking blood.

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But we were a medical team.

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We used to take precautions and medicines.

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The next day, we used to go for

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the next visit.

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MSF transferred me to the COVID-19 center

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in Patna where the COVID-19 pandemic was

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going on.

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The situation in the country and the whole

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world had deteriorated due to COVID-19.

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Sometimes, I also start thinking what is really

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going on on the earth.

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A patient came.

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The ambulance driver's assistant got down.

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He was completely covered with an apron.

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His eyes were visible in the apron.

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He came like an angel, like an astronaut.

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He got down from the ring and said,

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Hello, I have brought this patient.

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Admit him.

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I said, where is his referral?

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He showed me the paper.

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He had a daughter with him.

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She was his wife.

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She was crying so much that she started

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crying on the floor while climbing the stairs.

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I also started crying.

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I was not expressing my tears in front

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of her.

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But I was also crying from inside.

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The patient was not able to get up

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from the wheelchair.

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As soon as he tried to get up,

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he started falling on the floor.

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I forgot whether the gloves in my hand

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were right or not.

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I was a little emotional.

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It was my mistake.

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I could not protect myself.

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It was my mistake.

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I caught the patient.

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I felt that it was not right to

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say this.

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But I felt that maybe the day I

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touched him, I also got infected.

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After a few days, I started getting symptoms

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of fever.

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I thought that I would not survive.

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After a week, I felt so weak.

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I called my wife at night.

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In 17 days, I was in the ward

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for more than a day.

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After that, I was asked if I would

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go home.

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I said, not at all.

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If I go home, where will I go?

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I said, I will join from here.

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Then I was sent to the HIV department.

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I am working here now.

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Now, I am working as a lay counsellor

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educator.

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We go to the CSC, the Community Health

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Centre, and train and sensitize the ASHA members.

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If they get a suspected case in their

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respective area, they should inform us in a

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confidential manner.

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I will try my best to make people

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aware of this disease.

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This disease is not curable.

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I will try to stop this transmission through

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awareness.

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As long as I live, I will try

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to prevent this disease from spreading.

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I will try to save people's lives.

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Song