Two weeks ago, I returned home from my five week trip to the Balkans, and Germany. Some of the very first people, I saw were my dear friends from the St. James Infirmary. I don’t know if I can explain what it meant to be welcomed home by them, without sounding cheesey. But at St. James, the people there are not just my co-workers – they are my friends and family.
And even given this, I would not have gone into work as soon as I had, had I not also returned home to news of huge budget cuts to the St. James Infirmary, that could would severely affect several programs, including Outreach.
I understand that we are in a recession, and cuts need to be made to budgets everywhere. I understand that the AIDS office is doing the best it can with hard times, and yet it concerns me that public health programs, especially my beloved peer-run community clinic are in danger of losing funding, because our work is so important.
HIV infection rates and other STI transmission rates pretty low in our sex worker community here, and that has a lot to do with the fact that we have the resources to protect ourselves, as well as the fact being able to connect with our fellow community members is extraordinarily good for our spirits, and therefore our health. (I don’t know about you, but I tend to take better care of myself when I am also feeling surrounding by a supportive community).
I preemptively started looking into other funding sources, and even checked out some of the funding sources for my friends in the Balkans doing similar work, but it does not seem that organizations in the United States qualify. Understandably so, this country is supposed to be fairly rich, and even though we can’t count on the government for things like universal health care, we can in some round-about ways live off the fat of the land.
What happens when the corruption catches up to itself, and the fat dries up, or spoils?
You know, I started writing, this blog, in order to share some stories from outreach – in an attempt to use my privilege to share with other others about the realities of the street, and to share what I saw in outreach: people taking care of each other in really beautiful ways despite hard times, and to share the wisdom of the folks I was interacting with that was shared with me…
It might seem like outreach is not as an integral part of a medical clinic as other things on-site. But outreach to the community is a really important way for us to remind our community that we care. Sometimes on outreach, we were the first friendly face our community members had seen all night. Do you know what that means to us? This is extremely important work – and outreach is mutually supportive -for us to connect with one another and find ways for us to take care of each other.
The sex worker community full of strong, caring people. At St. James, we are working hard to make sure that we are making the best of a difficult situation, and I think we are. Already, there is a new focus around the clinic, not that our budget cuts are a good thing, but because we are strong, we will make the best of this situation and we will survive.
But hey, that doesn’t mean we can’t use your help. If you are a member of our community, or an ally or a loved one, please consider donating.
0 Responses to “Recession Blues”