As an undergraduate at Hiram College, I learned about the role of the humanities in science and medicine. I minored in Biomedical Humanities and discovered that the arts, including literature, can influence social views of healthcare and the relationships between scientists/clinicians, individuals coping with diseases, and the general public. This inspired me to use creative writing to share the importance of my thesis research related to the global health issue of exposure to biomass smoke from cooking fires.
Breathing Biomass Smoke
Watch the
orange flames dancing underneath the pot
As the biomass
fuel burns into a smoky haze
That fills
your lungs as you stand in the kitchen spot
And
surrounds your child as she plays
The smoke
travels through the branches of your bronchial tree
Slithering
down into the alveoli
Every time
that water is boiled for a nourishing cup of tea
And when
cooking hearty dishes, like a stir fry
The
noxious compounds in the smoke target your lung cells
Leading to
inflammation and cell death
Your
macrophages turn black as they engulf particulate materials
And airway
fibrosis makes it harder to catch your breath.
Inhaling
the smoke and feeling it fill your expanding lungs every day
Unable to
afford a “cleaner” fuel for your home
Years
later, discovering that your lungs are undergoing destruction and decay
Which a
doctor diagnoses as COPD, a respiratory syndrome
Children and Cookstoves
Your
children have been breathing in cookstove smoke
Which snakes
into their mouths and noses
It covers them
and their airways like a thick, grey cloak
And creeps
around your baby as she dozes
The smoke
collides with your children’s lung cells and disrupts their immunity
Making
them susceptible to respiratory pathogens
Including
bacteria and viruses that float throughout the community
Covertly
infecting your kids as they play with their friends
Although
the cells of the lung attempt to mount defenses,
The smoke
impairs their immune signaling
Leading to
severe symptoms and disease consequences
You see in
your feverish child who is constantly coughing
A doctor says
she has pneumonia after listening to her lungs
Which is the
leading cause of death among children under five
Especially
in families at the bottom of the energy ladder rungs
Who
struggle to earn a living and survive
