In Global Battle on AIDS, Bush Creates Legacy

My copy of There Is No Me Without You arrived a week ago just as we were going out the door to a wedding three hours away. I read aloud to Russ as we drove along, pausing only when I felt motion sickness coming on, or when the lump in my throat was too large to allow words to pass through.

The book is touching and disturbing. Through gifted writing, Melissa Fay Greene gave me a clearer image of the crisis in Ethiopia that is leaving many children orphans. The book focuses on one Ethiopian woman who took in two teenagers at the request of the local Catholic church. She was soon faced with a flood of children handed to her through her gate, left on the street outside her compound, or dropped off by the police. The children in her care soon numbered eighty and there were problems with her imperfect system of care. However, her desire to love children and to help them continues to save the lives of many little ones.

My favorite part of the book was reading about and seeing photos of children who were in her care and later adopted by families in the U.S. Their stories are touching beyond words and full of hope. I don’t think anyone could read the last chapter without crying.

If you are interested in purchasing the book, you can go to the author’s website where I hope you will take a moment to view the slideshow of the beautiful children. You can also purchase it on Amazon here. I just ordered two more copies of the book to lend to friends.

Thank you for reading.
~Lisa

More on HIV and Children -

In my last post I wrote about my friend Emily who visited AHOPE. What I didn’t mention is that she is a pediatric nurse practitioner who works with women and children who are HIV+ . After reading my post she sent me the following information. It’s great to have smart friends!

“There are actually two cases that have been written up where they believe that a
household contact got HIV maybe from another household member- both
with the sharing of razors- I have included the citations. It’s still
amazing that there are only a handful of cases where a household member
has HIV and there is not an obvious explanation- in these two cases
they point to the fact that the razor may have been the mode of
transmission. We always tell families not to share razors and when
the kids are young to have very different razors that are not even
kept in the shower (so someone could accidentally use it).

The other theoretical risk is brushing teeth with the same toothbrush
with both people having open bleeding wounds on their gums.”

She also sent me a link to a great article, Miracles in Pediatric AIDS .

Children with HIV are at risk for various infections and diseases; common illnesses such as chicken pox can be a more serious illness for them. However, they are able to live relatively normal and healthy lives.

In adoption news, I am sorry to say that there is no news. We are still waiting for the two forms we need to submit our dossier. I feel surprisingly peaceful about it… as long as I don’t think about it for too long.

In family news, Russ, N., and S., just completed a fifty mile backpacking trip in the Seven Devils. “Rusty” (11) was not able to go this year, but in a year or two when he weighs more than his backpack, he’ll have his chance. He did meet them at the end of their journey for a two day rafting trip on the Salmon River. Sounds great to me!

And just to make you smile, tonight while getting C. ready for bed, she pulled the tube of sparkly toothpaste from the drawer and said, “Is this Christ for kids?” When you are 3 the words Christ and Crest must sound similar.

Thank you for reading!

AHOPE for Children

I want to share about a wonderful organization called AHOPE. AHOPE provides an orphanage for Ethiopian children who test positive for HIV. When we first learned about the AIDS orphan crisis in Ethiopia we decided to sponsor a child at AHOPE. I called and spoke with Kathy, the director, and I was so impressed with what she told me.

When AHOPE was founded, their purpose was to provide hospice care for children with HIV as they developed AIDS and eventually died. Then in 2004 antiretroviral drugs became available for these children, offering them a healthy, happy, active life. They still have HIV (there is no cure yet), but the drugs manage the disease. Kathy told me that suddenly they faced the wonderful problem of providing these children with an education and helping them navigate the transition to adulthood.

In March we began sponsoring a very sweet little girl. When our friends, Mark and Emily went to Ethiopia to get their two little boys, they took some gifts to her and took photos of her for us. An incredibly moving experience for them, you can read about it on Emily’s blog. Look for her June 21st post.

Now, children from AHOPE have the opportunity for adoption, which is very exciting. Although no current treatment eradicates HIV, children in the United States receive care that enables them to lead normal lives and grow into adults who marry and have children. The available medications are very expensive, but also very effective. Many of us think that HIV is highly contagious, but in fact, it is not transmitted through normal daily life. There is no danger in sharing food, kissing, or living in the same home. There has never been a documented case of a family member contracting HIV apart from sexual activity or sharing needles.

You can read about a family adopting from AHOPE on Erin’s blog. Look on the sidebar for Belane’s adoption.

It costs $30.00 per month to sponsor one of these wonderful children and AHOPE literally needs sponsors in order to bring more children into the home. In our sponsored child’s case, they lacked the funds to bring her in, but her life was at risk where she lived, so they made an exception. Truly, our donations make a difference. Also, according to their web page, AHOPE is run entirely by volunteers and has donated office space, so a full 98% of donations go directly to the care of children. You can’t beat that!

I urge anybody reading to consider sponsoring a child at AHOPE. Praying for our sponsored child has enriched our family’s life.

We plan to go to AHOPE to visit the children and to take donations when we travel to Ethiopia. As we get closer to traveling I will post items that we hope to take if anyone would like to donate.

Don’t miss the link to photos and a video clip of the AHOPE children on the AHOPE web page.

Thank you for reading.