MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2008 is WORLD AIDS DAY. I just got my winter update letter from AHOPE and I thought I'd share one of the stories.
Seble is a six year old girl who lives with her grandmother in a very impoverished neighborhood in Addis Ababa. Her father was a soldier who abandoned his family before Seble was born and his present whereabouts are unknown. Seble's mother died of an illness, probably AIDS when Seble was two years old. Seble's grandmother struggled to provide for Seble working as a day laborer with occasional help from other relatives that did similar work. Seble had many health problems, including TB, and was diagnosed as HIV+ when she was five years old. Her grandmother loves her orphaned granddaughter, but she needed help to give Seble the care necessary for a person living with HIV. Seble enrolled at the AHOPE Ethiopia Child Development and Community Outreach Center on September 17, 2008. Since then, Seble and her grandmother have received all the services necessary to keep Seble healthy and to allow her to remain in her grandmother's care. Seble is receiving medications, nutritional support and education. Her grandmother, who has suffered so many loses in her life, is receiving psychosocial support and education in nutrition and HIV issues that will give her confidence and skills to provide a better life for herself and her beloved granddaughter. Seble is now thriving. She participates with enthusiasm in the activities at the Center, enjoys playing with the other children, and returns every evening to the loving arms of her grandmother.
This is just one of the programs that I will be able to help with while in Ethiopia this summer. I am hosting a breakfast at school tomorrow for World AIDS day-- pumpkin, banana, zucchini bread and Ethiopian coffee-- What can you do to help spread the message tomorrow??
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