Facing AIDS with Hope

The first boy we visited, Jarmain, was 16 years old and the skinniest person I have ever seen. He was huddled underneath the covers in his bed, peering at us with his yellowed and somber eyes. His condition was unknown. He looked like a famine victim. He was skin and bones.

We prayed for him, but in my heart I wondered to what good this would do. We were told before coming, "Don't cry when you're in their presence. That discourages them and they lose hope." But really, I had to wonder, was there any hope?

Statistics indicate that 50% of youth under the age of 15 in South Africa will die within the next 10 years. Every day 7 000 new HIV infections occur in people aged 10-24. I decided that I couldn't just sit and do nothing.

While studying at Westmont College I had the opportunity to spend a semester in Nairobi, Kenya and the experience changed my life. I returned to America with a greater sense of the world and a more compassionate heart.

Getting to South Africa

Back at Westmont I met up with a fellow student who had spent a semester doing intense research on AIDS. We decided to team up to educate ourselves on the AIDS pandemic in Africa. This research lead to taking a group of students on a short term trip to South Africa where I was approached by a local social action group to join in the work they were doing.

The first day I arrived in Capetown with my team of students we were whisked away to the township of Philippi to travel along with the health care workers of the community. We visited homes of the sick and dying and prayed for them. By "homes" I mean everything from very small brick or stucco houses to a few random pieces of tin and cardboard stuck together who-knows-how.

A little love goes a long way
I was assigned to work alongside Elizabeth, a local health-care worker working with Bridges of Hope (BOH). BOH is an international sustainable development organization working to combat AIDS, unemployment, discouragement and hopelessness. It is a daunting task to be sure, but they are taking practical steps towards it.

I joined Elizabeth making home visits to the sick, putting together aid packages and helping to plant a community vegetable garden for HIV/AIDS sufferers. With no medical training I was unsure about stepping into this role, but Elizabeth told me that my presence alone gave her and the other healthcare workers a boost of encouragement to continue on in their volunteer work.

The joy of knitting

In addition to working with Elizabeth, I am help to teach knitting workshops to HIV+ women. Many of these women are trapped at home by sickness and the stigma of it. The workshops give them a place of community as well as a source of income. Getting to know them has been a real highlight for me.

These women are funny, and very open. They love it when we model the knitted goods that they have made. They hoot and holler. Sometimes they will start singing while they are kitting, and it is an incredibly beautiful thing to hear. They are all sick, but they still have joy. There is also a great rejoicing when they get paid. It is such a wonderful thing to be able to pay them for what they are doing. We are enabling them to build a better life for their families. We are giving them hope.

A woman like Mother Theresa

Of the many people I have met in South Africa, a woman named Agnus has a special place in my heart. Throughout the community Agnus is known for taking in AIDS orphans. With five children already at home she recently took in a 19 year old woman in the final stages of AIDS. While Agnus could not save her she provided a place for her to belong. The young woman spent the end of her life in peace, in a place where she knew she was loved. In a country with over 5.3 million AIDS sufferers, that is an incredibly rare thing.

Mother Theresa is quoted as saying "the greatest suffering is being lonely, feeling unloved, having no one. I have come more and more to realize that it is being unwanted that is the worst disease that any human being can ever experience." This is so true in South Africa. People like Agnus and the BOH team are taking a stand against this disease, and it is a real privilege to be able to stand with them.

Finding my own hope

Maybe it seems strange to some that I, a 22 year old recent graduate, would set all my plans aside and come to South Africa to work amongst such intense suffering. My life in the United States was nice -- great friends, great family, great job and a new college degree. My options were endless -- Grad School? Art School? Law School? Seminary? I didn't know what my future held, but I knew that I had to go back to Africa.

There is a verse in the Bible that says, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask more." What had I been given? I was given semesters studying abroad in Kenya and Spain. I was given an upbringing in a loving and stable home and an education in the United States that put me in the top few percent of the wealthiest and most educated people in the world. Basically, I have been given a lot.

The greatest gift I ever received was when I prayed to receive Christ as my personal Saviour. God loves me so much that he sent his only son to die in my place. The Bible says that he came to give me "hope and a future". Now He is my hope for the future. Apart from Him, the world is, well, hopeless. My struggling would be in vain if I didn't know there was a greater end to it all, and a better way to live here on earth. I have seen a lot of death in South Africa and I will see more of it before I go back to the States. But I know that when a person places their faith in Christ, death does not have the final say. There is still hope.

If you are living in a world without hope, it doesn't have to be that way. You matter to God. He loves you so much that He gave His only Son for you. You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer. Praying is simply talking to God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. Here's a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of woman you want me to be.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? You can pray it right now, and Jesus Christ will come into your life, just as He promised.

If you invited Christ into your life, thank God often that He is in your life, that He will never leave you and that you have eternal life. As you learn more about your relationship with God, and how much He loves you, you'll experience life to the fullest.

If you have a question first, click here.

~ Rachel (Carlson) Colvin is a graduate of Westmont College. After completely her work with Bridges of Hope International doing AIDS relief work in South Africa Rachel returned to the States . She now lives in England with her husband, Mark, and continues to be involved in community development.

~ Garrett Hubbard got his BA in Economics/Accounting at University California Santa Barbara and now attends Brooks Institute of Photography. He hopes that by selling prints he can further his Visual Journalism education to more effectively tell these untold stories. You can see more of his work at http://public.fotki.com/spokenword/where prints are also available for purchase.