Melody sits Bina down and prepares the needles and equipment to do the test. She speaks kindly to Bina.

MELODY: My name is Melody. I’m going to do some blood tests on you, OK? One of the tests will be to check for HIV. They won’t hurt, and you will have your test results soon. Unfortunately there’s still a little wait for the abortion procedure, so you might still have to sit in there for a while. Do you have any questions about any of this?

BINA: Can I really get it if we only had sex once? HIV I mean. He told me he was safe.

Melody looks a little sad.

MELODY: I wish I could tell you ‘no’, but I’m sorry, you can get it after just one time. Listen, it’s not a death sentence. But it is important that you use protection, always. So many young people are in here, boys and girls, who thought they could trust the person they were with. It’s not nice to think about, but that’s how it is. Hold out your arm please.

Bina closes her eyes and holds out her arm. Melody draws the blood, shakes the vial, and puts it back. She talks while she does this.

MELODY: It’s not only cases where one person lies, either. Sometimes they genuinely don’t know they’re infected. So I say rather be safe than sorry, because in the end, it’s going to be you dealing with it.

BINA: That nurse, the other one. Mrs Moholo. She said she sees a lot of girls like me here. That we are all irresponsible. But I just didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

Melody looks at Bina sympathetically. She pauses what she is doing.

MELODY: Bina. I understand it isn’t fair that you are the one dealing with everything without the boy or man who you were with. I’m glad you have your friend here. There should be more boys and men here. This clinic has been seeing more and more men taking care, getting condoms, getting tested, that sort of thing. But you can’t rely on other people to be as careful about your health as you would. Hurt feelings are not as bad as contracting a preventable sickness like HIV.

Melody continues, putting a cotton swab and tape over the puncture wound.

MELODY: See, that wasn’t so bad. Now we just wait a little while for your results. I will call you when they are ready, OK? You can go to the waiting room again.

Tell us: how is Melody’s behaviour different from Agnes’s treatment of the girls? Which is better?