I <3 India

Here is an entry from my journal....

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As I sit here and write this, my heart is aching. It's early in the morning and I just can't sleep. It could possibly be blamed on jet-lag or possibly that I can't seem to shake these people from the HIV/AIDS clinic from my mind. Some travel for hours (and when I say hours, I mean like 7, 8, and even 9!). That is the distance between my parents home and the YWAM base in Monroe! some crawl up the stairs just to be seen, to feel human touch. some are widows, some children, some fathers accompanied by their grieving families, some are there for the first time and can't get through the exam without streams of sorrowful tears soaking their faces. All of them, though, are God's precious children... every one of them.

the state, Andra Pradesh, where we are currently working has the highest percentage of peoples living with the HIV/AIDS virus. I asked the doctor overseeing the clinic why this was and he didn't fully know. His conclusion was that it is due to the rich highways that pass through this state. Many truck drivers pass through these highways and see sex-workers. One out of every four sex-worker in Andra Pradesh is infected with the virus. These men then bring it back home to their wives. This is the main cause of transmission here. We have seen many cases of young girls, about my age- 25, who were married at a young age around 14 and received HIV/AIDS from their husbands. Most of their husbands have passed away and they are living now with children and a deadly disease. I've seen many widows. A hopelessness lurks over them. But when they come to the clinic the compassion showed there blows that cloud away and lets the light of hope shine all around them.

See, in the government hospitals, the doctors and nurses will not touch a HIV/AIDS patient. There is a big stigma here that people have engraved into their minds, that the transmission is easy. At the clinic we make it a point to touch each patient, pray with them and show them the truth that they are able to live a normal life. The people need to be taught that this disease is preventable. We have learned a skit to take to schools to teach on abstinence and the awareness of HIV/AIDS.

Please pray for our this clinic. Pray for the widows. Pray for the children. Please pray for the men. Please pray.

***

Since I wrote this we have begun to work with other ministries as well. I loved that we were able to start out our mission working with this clinic. I spent most my time shadowing a doctor and examining the patients. I saw many things I have never seen before... TB, external herpes, measles, oral thrush, and malaria. I've seen smiling, laughing children running in the halls who had no clue that their lives are going to be cut short. I've seen so much. My heart is breaking. But isn't this what I want? I do.