After my 11-month experience with the Botswana-Baylor International Pediatric HIV initiative (BIPAI), I published a short story titled “Rabid Morula Seed” about a young mother coming to terms with her 3-year-old daughter's diagnosis of rhabdomyosarcoma (The Examined Life. 1:2, 2011). As a student of anthropology, I have always been interested in the illness experience. Nowhere was this more evident than in my observation of children suffering from chronic conditions like cancer and HIV, and yet who shared hospital quarters with other children who had TB and measles. The program at the Botswana Baylor Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence in Gaborone is revolutionary among international programs for its emphasis on encouraging happiness and wellness for children outside of their medical diagnoses. In some ways, this was my first encounter with pediatric palliative care and it has motivated me to address disparities in hospice and palliative care in the U.S. and abroad....

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