Visiting the Sick

On Sunday we went to visit some of the many Sisters that are sick. This is always an eye opening experience for all of us, no matter how many times we do it. It’s a reminder to me of the reason we are doing what we are doing. Whenever I start to get down or discouraged, I make myself take time away from all of the office work, meetings and telephone calls and go down and spend time with the Sisters. There could not be a more motivating experience for me personally. Seeing the innocence in their eyes and the joy the feel from a visit from one of us is enough to motivate me to press through any obstacle that comes up.

This past Sunday we went to visit one of the Sisters that has been with us since day one. Her name is Rosa and she’s 39 years old presently living with full blown AIDS. She has three young daughters, one of which is also a prostitute with a baby. When we came to visit Rosa there were 13 other Sisters in the room with us, and it was no large room. It was raining and fairly cold outside, for Rwanda anyway. Rosa was sitting on a small stool, wrapped in a blanket and she her hands were shaking. She kept a cloth over her mouth for fear of breathing on us and infecting us in some way. She has absolutely nothing and survives off of the little bit of money here daughters and neighbors bring to her.

We were there with a two other close friends of ours as well. It was Joseph, Everest (pastor from Burundi), Martin (Kenyan pastor from Kampala, Uganda), and me. There were quite a few languages and nationalities represented in the room, but most of the talking was in Kinyarwanda, as usual, with a little Swahili here and there. The more we talked, the more comfortable everyone became, as always. It’s so hard to imagine Rosa being a prostitute at all. She is such a sweet person and her smile and laughter is what I remember most from that day. We left her with 5000 RWF ($9) for medications and food. It’s the least we could do and part of our commitment to the Sisters.

After visiting Rosa, we went to visit the home of one of the younger Sisters. She was sitting inside a very small room with two small beds and a chair. There were two girls laying in the bed, one girl standing and two boys hanging around inside. I would imagine they were all from 15 – 20 years old. The girl that we were visiting had been beaten by a client last week to the point where she could no longer walk. We helped pay for her medications last week and she seems to be healing up well, though slowly.

The room was small, damp, and smelled of alcohol and cigarettes from the two boys hanging out. From what I could tell that was not from the Sisters, but who knows. Virginia also joined us for this visit and talked quite a bit. She’s really becoming a respected leader in the Sisters community now, which is precisely what we are trying to empower her to do. I’m excited about seeing her grow in that role. I think the other Sisters will be inspired by her success and she will serve as a great example of what this program for do for all of the Sisters.

In the following weeks we are going to be posting the stories of Virginia and Rosa. We want to do all we can to let people into their world. And we also want to get more and more stories from the Sisters and get their thoughts and dreams posted here. Our staff members will also be posting stories. It will take some time for sure, but it’s a very important dynamic to what we are doing.