Epilog (Story of Liangshan)
by Humphrey Wou
When we parted last April, I said something to Xi (not her real name) that was awfully like a line from a day-time soap, “You have to be strong. Live.”
Xi’s dramatic story has been retold many times verbally, on video and in print. She was a heroin user for 11 years. In order to support her drug habit, she became a sex worker at 18 and left her great grandfather who brought her up. Two years ago, when the old man passed away, she planned to commit suicide. She didn’t carry out her plan because of a visit to the CDC where the doctors have always cared for her.
When she tearfully recounted her life story in front of her great grandfather’s grave, I didn’t know what to offer her in the way of encouragement. I finally said a few clumsy and corny words through my sobs.
When I saw Xi nine months later, she was radiant. Apparently the methadone replacement therapy has worked wonders for her. She drinks 85 ml. of methadone every day which is enough to quell her desire for heroin. The cost to her is 10 yuan per dose.
Methadone is new to China. In April, the government began a trial distribution of methadone in 8 cities. In less than nine months, the Chinese government announced the construction of 2,000 methadone stations across the country. Since Xichang is one of the pilot sites, its harm reduction work has attracted a lot of media attention. They have been written up by Chinese newspapers and websites, and featured on CCTV twice in the last nine months.
Just like Xi, Mr. Ta also has been benefited from methadone in recent months. Ta is HIV+. His divorced wife came back to him when she learned that he had contracted the virus. Ta complained that he had fallen on hard times. The CDC directors tried to help him purchase six head of sheep. But he was still depressed when I met him last April.
When I first caught sight of Mr. Ta (not his real name) at the CDC clinic, I noticed he has gained back some of his weight. I commented on how good he looks now. His mood is also much brighter. He told me that he had sold the sheep and bought piglets. He started with 8 and sold them after six months and now he is ready to buy another 26. He is upwardly mobile!
I went to Ta’s home and visited his wife that afternoon. After watching the video interview I shot in April, they commented on how their lives have improved in the last few months. And the government HIV drugs are going to be distributed in a couple of weeks. The setting sun cast a rouge hue on their hopeful faces.
Xi no longer thinks of her life as miserable. Because of the low cost of methadone, as well as a grant from ARFC to support her peer education work at the CDC station, she no longer needs a large income to survive every day. She has stopped being a sex worker. She wakes up in the morning with purpose. She collects used needles from 50 peers and talks to them about the dangers of HIV.
Xi was asked to give a talk at her high school. To face her old school master and teachers was tremendously difficult for her. She had become a drug addict and prostitute right after high school. Her shame weighed down her head. But she thought about all the younger sisters and brothers in the school. Most people in rehab centers are between the ages of 16 and 23. Her story needed to be told. She stood up in front of the crowd of 2,000, and began to speak. Her voice was weak and shaky for the first two sentences. And then she found her courage. She spoke without fear and shame for an hour and a half. By the time she sat down, there was not a dry eye among the 2,000.
She now lives with her sister in a small studio. They also have a six-week-old puppy that constantly runs back and forth between the two girls. I had heard that Xi has someone special now. She was shy, and reluctant to speak of him at first. I wondered if he knew about her past. Then she revealed that this was the same high school sweetheart who had once broken up with her. She began using heroin because of the break-up. Now after 10 years, he came back to her and felt guilty for ruining her life. He visits her at her home everyday after work.
I can see now what I couldn’t see nine months ago. Xi is building a family.