March 17, 2009 at 1:35 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Africa, AIDS, HIV/AIDS, human rights, orphans
Today I went to the clinic and met with Capitaine who informed me that we needed to go check on a little boy who has been sick. Awe (Ah-way) is nine years old and has been living with his grandmother since his mother died in 2005. He is HIV positive and blind due to an illness he contracted in December 2007. Awe’s grandmother feels overextended by her responsibility to care for a child with a disability and has therefore made the decision to quit feeding him and giving him his ARVs.
When we went to Awe’s home, I asked if there were any other children living there, and Capitaine said that there weren’t. I wondered then, who is the child sleeping on the porch that looks to be around five years of age? It was nine year old Awe. We sat down and spoke with Awe for awhile, whose grandmother was out working in the fields quite a ways away, and we found that he had not eaten that day. He did not stir from laying in fetal position during the duration of our visit, but spoke to us freely and without complaint. All he asked was that we bring him some bread. We left to go get him some rice, peanut sauce with vegetables, and oranges, and then returned to feed him. He ate with trembling hands, but not very much as his stomach had grown so unaccustomed to food that he could only eat a few small bites at a time. After his “meal,” he laid back down in the same position we found him and talked to us some more.
After we left Awe, we went to visit a woman who is trying to help find a family who will take Awe in and nurse him back to health. Once he regains his health and strength, we will search for a way to get him into a school for the blind.
Awe’s full name means “What is beautiful in the world?” He is intelligent, sweet, and full of potential, but his life is like a candle flame in the wind that will surely be snuffed out unless someone intervenes. He will never cry out that his human rights are being violated. He does not even seem to realize that every child deserves to be fed, loved, nurtured and cared for. He doesn’t realize that having a disability does not make you worthless.
Please pray for Awe, and for the family who will take him into their home, and into their hearts.
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December 18, 2008 at 7:17 pm (missions, Africa, Togo, poverty, God, Jesus, HIV/AIDS)
Tags: Africa, AIDS, ARVs, orphans
I typed this up to share the story of one of the little boys I’ve gotten to know at the clinic, and thought I’d post it. The clinic is having a really hard time with funds currently and doesn’t have enough medications to go around. This story takes a tough fact like that and shows the real tragedy behind it.
“This one is a miracle of God!” That was introduction I was given to three year old Kevin as we visited the homes to check on the welfare of families who have taken in orphans. Kevin lost his mother, father, sister, brother, and nephew to AIDS in a span of three months in 2007.
Early that year a woman and her 11 year old son came into town to AED to be tested for HIV. She was sick and emaciated, and the hospital recommended that she be tested. While at AED, the Psychologist also suggested that her son be tested as he appeared to be in poor health as well. The tests came back positive, so Kapitaine (the head of the Orphan and Other Vulnerable Children) went to the family home. Once there he found that this woman had a teenaged daughter who was expecting and a young son of only two years. Everyone in the family was very sick and malnourished. They proceeded to test the young son and found he also is HIV positive, but the teenaged daughter refused to be tested.
The family was slated to start Anti-Retroviral Therapy, but supplies were limited and so they were unable to begin. The mother had become so ill that she was no longer able to walk and had to be hospitalized. The father also soon had to be hospitalized which left the two sons with no one to care for them as the sister was pregnant and in poor health.
AED approached a woman named Assiki and asked her to take in the two boys. Soon thereafter the mother died, a month later their sister gave birth and died along with her child on the same day that their father died. Within a month of that the older brother was hospitalized and died. Kevin was the sole member of his family left, and he was sick and malnourished. Through the loving care of Assiki and his new “brothers and sisters”, along with the help of AED, Kevin is now healthy and strong and receiving ARVs (anti-retrovirals.)
Kevin is shown here with the seven other HIV positive children that Assiki has taken in. Assiki is one woman with limited resources, but relies on God to provide for her needs and for the needs of these children. Please give thanks to God for Assiki and her selfless ministry to these children. Pray for God’s continued sustenance of this family, and for his peace, comfort and joy to be present in their home despite the tragedies each of them has lived through. Praise God that his spirit gives strength daily to Assiki and her children, and pray for AED as they continue and struggle to make ends meet so that they might serve the forgotten and hopeless here in Togo.
Picture: back row: Gentille (15 years,) Happy (13 years,) Alice (14 years,)
Front row: Sadate (10 years,) Bernadette (18 years,) Kevin (3 years,) Tante (19 years,) Bienvenue (12 years)
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April 6, 2008 at 2:52 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Africa, AIDS, HIV, Togo
Last week our team was able to spend time with the founder and some key members of Hope Through Health, an NGO that partners with a local group to provide treatment and services to those affected by HIV/ AIDS. We have worked with them a little already, in an effort to link some orphans in one of the villages to the care they need, and now we are talking about ways to expand our work together. Several things impress me about this group. They are very focused on what they want to do and their efforts stem from a very pure and sincere desire to help people who have few resources and no voice in most of the factors that determine their well being. It is so inspirational to witness people using their position of power and wealth (which are pretty much rights of birth to American citizens) to advocate for those in less fortunate circumstances. I am also impressed with their willingness to follow the leadership of those whom they are serving. Time and time again I am impressed with the resourcefulness, perseverance, good work- ethic, and wisdom that the Kabiye people exhibit as they live lives fraught with challenges. There is often a tendency for westerners to overlook these impressive characteristics as we regard them from our history of safe and comfortable lifestyle. Hope Through Health has, at its center, the goal of using these traits to provide the leadership and direction for their programs, and to empower the Togolaise to go forward.
A real temptation for workers in a developing country is to provide quick-fixes. It is easy to throw money at something, build buildings, buy medication, etc. It is much more complex and time consuming to build up simple programs that address root causes and provide long-term solutions. I have seen my teammates be deliberate in their work from that perspective and I see Hope Through Health being deliberate as well. In both cases I am grateful for their examples and pray that the Togolaise will be greatly blessed by all of our efforts.
By the way, since most of you are used to our asking for money, I don’t mind petitioning you for HTH. They have some great ways to contribute through their Stand With Us campaign. They have very little overhead cost and the money they raise really goes to the people they serve. Check out the link on the right and sign up for their email updates.
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