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Andy and Bev Warren
C/O SIM, P.O. Box 127
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Dear Friends,
In my last email I wrote about Leul, the six-year-old with AIDS, that
visits my office several times a week. Today on my desk I have a
months supply of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) for Leul. We will start
treating him tomorrow or the next day. Please pray for Leul and us.
This is a big leap and we don’t know where we will land.
One of our other children, Selam, an eleven-year-old, needs ARVs. Her
immune system is so reduced that she regularly battles pneumonia. We
tried several weeks ago to get her started on the ARVs and when we told
her that we would buy the medicines for her she refused to take them.
Selam’s mother has AIDS and is taking the ARVs and is improving, so we
were stumped by Selam’s refusal.
Last Friday Selam came to Teddy, the Project Manager, and asked to talk
to him. She told Teddy that she wasn’t sure that she has AIDS, and
wants to take another test to just make sure. She also asked some very
mature questions about the medicines and what it would mean for her.
Teddy assured her that we would arrange for another HIV test and he
answered her questions. He told me later that we made the mistake of
treating her like a child and assuming that she didn’t need real
explanations. She told Teddy that she knows we love her and care about
her and will only do what we think is right. She is ready to start the
ARVs.
Mikias, like Leul, is tiny. He has shrunk to skin and bones, except
for his swollen abdomen where he is retaining fluid. His mother came
last month and asked us to take him. She didn’t feel that she could
watch him die, and he had started refusing to eat most of the food she
prepared. We helped her find food that he would eat and he has
stabilized some, but won’t last long without ARVs. Today we got a
prescription for the medicines and will try and get him started in a
few days.
We have no certainty that we are doing the right thing. It is almost
self-preservation. I don’t know how to survive emotionally watching
these children die without doing everything we can to help them.
Another MTW medical team just finished two weeks of ministry here.
Like all of the previous medical teams they are a huge help and
blessing. We are expanding and trying to help local churches that want
to help people with AIDS. The team held clinics at two churches, and
the response was overwhelming. Last Sunday the pastor of one of the
churches told the congregation that he had seen a miracle happen on the
church compound that week. He had seen people with AIDS being cared
for by people who spent time with them and listened to them and prayed
with them and shared the love of Christ. He said that most of these
people when they went to a clinic and the doctor found they were HIV+
were given Tylenol and sent away without even being touched.
The members of this team touched and hugged and held these modern-day
lepers. It really is miraculous.
I am attaching a picture of Leul coloring at my desk. The fish lamp is
in the background.
Blessings,
Andy
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