Oh boy, I never knew that a movie can go so deeply under my skin!  This movie was just too heart wrenching. It was about a young lady called Yesterday and her little daughter, Beauty who are part of a community out on the land, far away from any sort of services or town! Yesterday is well known and liked by all in the community. What I immediately noticed about her was the warmth and vibrant nature she possessed. The community was not well off and despite of the poverty, she radiated out this peace and freedom of mind....UNTIL she finally gets to see a doctor due to an on going cough. The doctor advices her to undergo a blood test only to confirm her assumption....AIDS.

 

Yesterday's whole world falls apart like glass shattering to pieces on dry, barren ground! Not only does her immediate family fall to pieces and has to suffer but the community life also becomes a nightmare for her family as they are being ostracised by the other community members.

 

I really struggled to get my feelings on par and to reflect with the rest of the class after the movie was over as these following questions kept flitting through my mind...."where on earth is the source of the problem?", "whose fault is it anyways?" and "who do we blame?"  I can imagine that Yesterday herself, must have been thinking some of those thoughts!

Was it her husband who moved to Johannesburg in order to earn an income so that he can offer his family a brighter future, only to get hooked up on the influences that urbanization brings with it?

Does it boil down to morals and believes of individuals!?

Then again if our economy wouldn't suffer so much, maybe individuals such as the Kumalos could comfortably live on the little that they had.

Is it the lack of education that caused things to go sour for the family as well as the community having such a resentful nature?

Gosh, who on earth do we hold responsible!?...are we even allowed to hold anyone responsible! I just don't know. As a health professional our role is to stick to the facts. In other words, Yesterday's husband picked up the virus somewhere in Johannesburg and brought it back to the community, as it so very often happens. HIV is a health hazard which means that it would be our responsibility to put safety measures into play. We could also come up with alternative ideas TOGETHER with the community as to how we could make the community more prosperous with the resources that they have.

It seems as if Yesterday also could not really find a culprit in all of this (when it was so clear that her husband must have had something to do with it) as she stood by her husbands side even when he returned to the community due to his illness. One thing that I have had to learn intensely these past days is to RESPECT other peoples cultures, opinions and most importantly their DECISIONS. We all have the right to make our own decisions.

Yesterday made a decision (when she heard that she had contracted HIV) that she would see her daughter Beauty, go off to school on her first day. This was one of the most moving scenes for me...

 ...There Yesterday stands and sees her daughter off into a future that she never had. To me the gate with the lock symbolizes her disease that she acquired due to a life changing decision that her husband made. Once the bell rings for the children to go into the classrooms, she takes the dust road home...

“Trust your heart if the seas catch fire, live by love though the stars walk backward.”
― E.E. Cummings