July 16, 2001
TRACY was admitted to Senyati Baptist Hospital in Zimbabwe for tuberculosis, her immune system weakened by AIDS. As the days go by, her immune system weakens. Chaplains visit the patients in the hospital, leading many to find faith in Jesus Christ. (IMB photos by Denise McGill)
The face of AIDS in Africa
___By Sue Sprenkle
___SBC International Mission Board
___The elderly woman sits in silence just outside the hospital's open door. The electricity is off, but she doesn't notice the darkness.
___Her mind is far away--in a time when there was no sorrow--a time when her daughter was alive and healthy. She wonders how she will take care of her newly orphaned grandchildren.
___A loud sob escapes her lips. The pain and hurt are too great and too fresh. Her daughterdied just 20 minutes ago.
LATEX GLOVES are washed and dried on lines so they can be used over and over.
___The woman grabs the hand of the person next to her and lets out a piercing wail. Soon the wail turns into a slow, sad, mournful song.
___For the past few days, this elderly woman sat next to her daughter, holding her hand, coaxing her to eat. When the daughter shivered from burning fever, she added an extra blanket. As visitors came and went, the mother made sure everyone greeted her daughter, even after she was comatose.
___When the room filled with the sickening, sweet smell of death, everyone left but the mother. Still smiling. Still hoping.
___In the hallways of Zimbabwe's Sanyati Baptist Hospital, no one dares to mention the cause of this death. But knowing and experienced eyes speak. Here the cause is called "slimming disease." AIDS.
___As the HIV virus sweeps mercilessly across the African continent, only a few try to address it. Most simply look away.
___To acknowledge that you have AIDS can mean certain death. A South African woman who told a televised audience on World AIDS Day was found beaten to death by family and fellow villagers six hours later.
___Embarrassment about the sexually transmitted disease looms more important than future health risks. Families recoil in shame.
___Most do not know how or when they caught the virus. Many never know they have it.And many who do know don't tell. Doctors and obituaries don't name it as a cause of death.
EVA is in the last stages of AIDS. Confused, incontinent, refusing food, no longer talking, she will leave a child to be cared for by her sister. In Africa, few families remain untouched by AIDS. Only 10 percent of the world's people live in Africa, yet it is home to 70 percent of the world's HIV-infected people.
___AIDS in Africa bears little resemblance to the disease in America. It does not just affect individuals, but entire societies. Few families remain untouched.
___The hope is gone from Zililo's eyes as he stands in the family cemetery. Raw mounds of earth scar the landscape. Thorn bushes cover graves to keep wild animals from digging. There are 17 in all. A few years ago, there were only three.
___Zililo takes a step toward a fresh grave and stops. He can't go further. AIDS is real to Zililo. Very real. His wife and children, brother and sister--all have died from the dreaded disease.
___"Who's going to be next?" he asks to no one in particular.
___Thirteen million Africans already have died of AIDS. Ten million more are expected to die within the next five years.
___In Kenya, where one in seven people is HIV-positive, the list of the dead grows by 500 a day. In Botswana, one in four people carry the disease; in Zimbabwe, it is nearly one in three.
___On a continent ravaged by wars and mired in poverty, AIDS is wiping out much of a generation. Families are being destroyed, and the most educated and skilled workers in the history of the continent are being cut down in their prime.
___The disease, which began here, is spread in part because of social instability. Migrant workers. Refugees. Women who have no means of support for their families other than prostitution.
___Cultural factors also play a role. Some believe the best cure for HIV is to sleep with a virgin.
___It is estimated that, due to AIDS, sub-Saharan Africa will have 71 million fewer people by 2010 than it would have otherwise.
___Africa-Operation Whole--a South African organization charting the effects of AIDS on the continent--reports that 36.1 million people in the world have AIDS; 26.1 million of them in sub-Sahara Africa.
___Other statistics for the continent show:
___5.3 million new infections for the year 2000--a rate of 15,000 infections a day, of which 6,500 are age 15-24.
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___The numbers stagger. Those who suffer most are children. Africa is becoming a continent of orphans.
___United Nations AIDS statistics project that by the year 2010 there will be 40 million AIDS orphans in Africa alone.
___Orphans suffer on many levels. They drop out of school to care for dying parents or younger siblings. They are carted off to grandparents already caring for grandchildren from three or four of their children.
___Too weak to eat or drink, the woman lies motionless on a pile of old blankets on a cold, mud-packed floor. She stares blankly into space as a visitor tries to coax her to eat. She gives no response, so the visitor leans in close to pray. A lone tear streaks down the dying woman's face.
___"I've been so bad in my lifetime that God could never forgive me--God will never forgive me," the woman whispers and motions for help turning her emaciated body away from the visitor.
___The woman is typical of what has been called the largest unreached people group in the world--people of the 15/45 Window--named since most cases of HIV/AIDS occur between age 15 and 45.
___Ninety percent of them never have heard about Jesus or have not entered into a personal relationship with him. Twenty million people--with more added daily--become sick worldwide and die without a knowledge of Christ. They are the people Christians believe most urgently need to hear God's good news.
___Chaplain Philemon Satiya counsels hundreds of them each week. "By the time I see the patients, most are already wondering about life and death," he says.
___"Most pray to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior. Even though it's too late for them to physically survive, it's never too late for God to welcome another child into his kingdom."
___Last year, Philemon prayed with more than 740 people to trust Christ.
___"We have to leave this in God's hands," he says. "No one knows how AIDS will end. But we do know that God is in control and through him, we always have hope."
___The sunken, tightly drawn face is identical to most AIDS victims, but there's something different about this man. He has a contagious smile that never ceases.
___Zacchaeus doesn't sit around and think about death. He walks around talking and singing about life.
___"Sure, maybe it is my fault that I have it," he says. "But you know, God doesn't look around and see if you have one leg or two. He wants you as you are."
___God is Zacchaeus' strength and hope.
___"God has rules," Zacchaeus says. "If you follow them, you don't get AIDS."
___AIDS education is on the rise--in the schools, on the radio and television. As the next generation learns about prevention, Christians are joining the crusade with True Love Waits campaigns teaching "God's rules."
___This is an especially big challenge in Africa. Although only 10 percent of the world's population lives in Africa, it is home to 70 percent of the world's HIV-infected people.
___Baptists and other evangelical Christians are working to help Africans see that despite the grim predictions, there is still a glimmer of hope through Jesus Christ.
___Adapted from Commission magazine
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