August 2006
 The Rev. Ayano Chule, representing ANERELA+, with Dorothy Hanson in a teaching session on Stigma in the Church.
Friday night
Wow! How can one woman be so thoroughly blessed? By God’s grace! You see, tonight there was a Celebration of Positive Living—those who are living with HIV-positive status and doing so with grace, joy and purpose.
It is Friday night and the fifth day of a grueling training. Looking at the schedule one week ago with my teammates, I suggested a celebration of positive living. When they agreed none of us realized how blessed we would all be. The Rev. Ayano, the HIV-positive Ethiopian who came here to break the silence in the churches—his arrival an answer to prayers—opened with his story and some salient points about staying healthy, upbeat and in God’s way. Then the 17-member choir—mostly women, all HIV-positive and willing to be open about their status, some from the church with which I work but also from four others—sang with such genuine praise. I felt as though I was in heaven, rather I wondered if this is what heaven could be like!
The five-day training participants are the HIV and AIDS Coordinators from our 20 church units. They were tired and reluctant to come back at 6:00 p.m. on a Friday—we are all staying, eating and learning at our Training Center—for yet another program. They drifted in slowly. Very soon pens and paper emerged as they hung on the Rev. Ayano’s every word. Then they began to smile and before we could close to go to dinner—scheduled for 7:30 p.m., but didn’t take place until just before 8:00 p.m.—they were bubbling over with emotion:
Thank you—this was a gift you gave us by coming to be with us, to sing with us, to share your stories.
We have all been working in HIV and AIDS work for a long time but all we were seeing was the sick, the dejected.
Never before have we seen such power of God—it is a miracle.
You showed us that God can use anything for His glory.
We felt fear, shock, and surprise, but it is simply Jesus of Nazareth. Thank you.
I shared dinner with eight of these beautiful women. None spoke much English, but I managed, with my weak Amharic, to find out who had children, who was working, and who was on medication. I learned that one cannot consume carbonated liquids with antiretroviral medications. One beautiful young woman is only two months postpartum, is on medication, and her baby is being bottle-fed—she shared that formula costs about $5.00 a week. Thanks for listening to my joys—it was a celebration indeed! I will have breakfast with them before they go off to their regular Saturday choir practice. Praise God for this blessing!
Saturday morning
I did have breakfast with the women. The very thin, but beautiful young woman sitting next to me described herself as “throw-away garbage,” but then Jesus came into her life and now she too knows she is beautiful. In fact, I observed her glow, with the love of Jesus living within her. Later, Martha, one of our teachers from World Vision Ethiopia, arrived and remembered these choir members from a program World Vision held in December. She greeted each one with the traditional cheek-to-cheek greeting before going to teach class. I had chosen to eat with them at both dinner and breakfast. Then Martha demonstrated care and love, but every member of my team chose to eat at separate tables from the choir members—suddenly I felt angry with them. Here was stigma in practice, by my own team members—all professing Christians, all working for the church in HIV and AIDS, some for years! As I described my anger to others later, I was reminded that it could be a cultural preference to sit and eat only with those whom you know.
I pray that I can use this experience to break down more stigmas within the church. Please pray for wisdom in my words and actions here in Ethiopia, working with Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus.
Prayerfully, Dorothy Hanson
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 330 |
