Food and Faith

Thursday was a Kwejuna distribution. This is where mothers with HIV come and after a day of weighing, testing, shot giving, and a message from Scott, they are given a HUGE bag of beans along with 3 liters of oil and two bags of salt. A very exciting day for all who come including those who help. The interns and I had the privilege of participating. While two of the interns helped weigh and measure the mothers and their children, I and another intern met with small groups of women to hear their prayer requests and pray for them. As each request was being translated for me to understand, it became a very sobering experience. These women are some of the most courageous women. Not only are they trying to care for themselves, but they are still trying their best to care for their family. Many women shared that they are always feeling weak and tired, but still have to work. They are struggling to provide for the needs of their children. My heart broke with each request. The path that these women are walking down is a path that I can’t even begin to relate to and here they were sharing their struggles with me. These women are not only living with this virus, which has no cure, but they could also be living in very poor conditions, no home, sometimes ostracized from their families because of the stigma still connected with HIV/AIDS, and because their immune system is weakening there are susceptible to so many other sicknesses. My biggest prayer for all of these women is that they would continue to believe that the Lord loves them even as they walk this very difficult path.
I also had a turn weighing mothers and children. Many of the infants do not like being placed in the weighing basket, which to them must have felt very insecure and unsafe. I also got to hold many of these precious babies as the mothers were weighed. Once everyone went through each station there was a time of waiting as all the food was brought in. Scott spoke to the women using the story of Job and how he never gave up even after everything was taken from him and he never lost faith. From the reactions of the women I could tell that they were relating to the story being told. Please pray that they would continue to have faith that the Lord is always present and His love never changes.