Day 4- Touched by God

Patients waiting to be seen at the Clinic

Since we had to allow the concrete at the water tank cure today, Kevin and I got to join the village teams for the first time. I was excited to be able to work with my wife. We started off the day by touring the clinic. We met some absolutely wonderful people there. We met the head nurse who was the nicest lady, and we met a patient counselor who had the heart-breaking task of telling patients that they tested positive for HIV and what their options were. The were 30 or 40 patients at the clinic today in various stages of being seen or cared for. Dr. Frew explained that many of them traveled for miles on foot to be seen at the clinic, and sometimes their health was so poor when they arrived that they would have to stay for a week. The Doctor to patient ratio in Ethiopia is one doctor to every 30,000 patients. (general practice Doctor, not specialist) The average life expectancy for a man is 52 years and 55 years for a woman. When we heard that, Bianca and I looked at each other and realized that both of our parents would be gone. Later that day I was haunted by those two numbers as I walked through the village and realized what I had missed earlier that week: there were no elderly people. Anywhere. The children have no grandparents.

My wife Bianca with the Head Nurse

As we toured the clinic, we greeted the patients with smiles, handshakes, and hugs. In Ethiopia, they treat AIDS as though it were leprosy. Since they do not know how it is contracted, you are often cut off from society if you have it. Of course we knew better, and it was nice to see the appreciation in their eyes for a human touch and a look of understanding. Up to this point, I had been pretty good about not openly crying in public, but when the head nurse approached a few of us as we were leaving, I almost lost it. She wanted to thank us for treating the patients with grace and respect and then she told us that a couple of the patients told us that when we touched them, they felt as if they were being touched by God. Wow. I thank God for using us in such a powerful way. I still tear up days later as I type this.

The Sendafa Library

From there we all drove a couple blocks over to the library. We were told that it is not the single largest collection of books in the entire Country, with the exception of the capital city. The coolest thing about that number is that Living Word Community Church donated almost every single one of those books! It was incredible to see them all. A few team members recognized their books and pulled them off the shelf to show us their names in the front. It was a blessing to see teenage kids in the library studying diligently. Although their were plenty of fictional entertainment-style books, every person that I saw was studying history or math. They were focused too. By now, we were used to our celebrity status in the village, but these kids were so intent on their studies, that they only glanced up occasionally.

Presenting wheat to an HIV-inflicted Mother

At this point we split up into our smaller teams. Our team was tasked with distributing wheat and oil to families on the anti-retroviral drug program that did not have enough to eat. We were not simply dropping off a bag and running though, each house we stopped at, we would sit down and talk to the ladies of the house and say a prayer with them after presenting them with wheat, oil, and toiletries. We visited six homes in all, and out of them, only one woman was still married. The other five did not have a husband, either because they were never married, or because it is common for the man to leave once the woman is infected with HIV.

An HIV-inflicted woman who is now a successful business owner

On the way home today, we stopped by a large compound on the outskirts of town. It belonged to the first woman to benefit from our micro-economic loan program. This woman was so successful by using our program, that not only did she pay back the money in record time, she now provides a comfortable living (by Ethiopian standards) for her immediate family and also provides for much of her extended family. Her main business is processing and selling eucalyptus poles and lumber. Her home was larger than most and she had a small 13 inch TV in one corner. (this was only the 2nd TV that I saw in the village) She and her family looked very healthy, and she was very excited to see us. She made sure to give each of us big hugs. It was very encouraging to hear her success story and her about how she encourages others to participate in the program.