For a few terrible days in 2007, Jami Armstrong (MSW '02) thought she was dying of AIDS. She wasn't--but the experience forever changed the way she lives her life.
Today, Armstrong is a human right "accompanier" with NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala), working with survivors of that country's 36-year civil war. She lives in a rural community alongside those who witnessed wartime atrocities, offering both moral support and a physical presence those witnesses think may help deter future violence.
"I have long felt the call to work towards deeper justice and human rights, and Guatemala has been in my heart for a long time," she explains. "But now my intentions and heart feel altered, or perhaps 'refined.'"
A life-changing diagnosis
Armstrong still recalls the exact date--Tuesday, September 18--when her doctor told her she was HIV-positive. "I had my blood drawn for a cholesterol check, a good preventative health measure," she says. "I had planned on a quick bike trip, from work to the clinic and back, to get my results." Stunned by the unexpected news, she never made it back to her job that day.
"Over the next three days, I struggled," Armstrong remembers. "I had moments of acceptance, many hours on the Internet doing research, many in denial. Mostly I just floated through those days in an unfamiliar state. I could list all the factors that put me in one of the lowest risk groups. But one of the things I came to realize is that it is indeed hard to track every ounce of your blood's history."
Connections
Armstrong can tell you the date she visited a clinic on her own and found out she was probably HIV-negative. And she can tell you the dates of her two subsequent blood tests and also the date, a few weeks later, when she got the definitive good news. Her original blood sample, apparently, had been switched with someone else's.
What Armstrong struggles to explain, however, is the profound impact that experience has had on her life. "What am I meant to learn?" she asks herself. "As my blood has regenerated after all those blood tests, has it been changed? Does my heart pump with more intention now?"
And what of that stranger whose blood was swapped with hers? "I'll never know who they are, but their story is deep in my own blood now," she says. "It pumps through my heart and brain daily, reminding me of our interconnectedness with one another."
Called to action
A lifelong commitment to social justice has become a deeply personal call to action.
"I know I must work actively towards the world I want to live in," Armstrong writes
from Guatemala. "This is not about guilt, or even about doing good. It is about our
shared responsibility for creating justice in the world. I feel strengthened by the
knowledge that I am but one piece of the puzzle, one part of an international network
of solidarity."
