Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2004-03-04, Page 17Hardi ES 30 30 gallon, 12V Estate Sprayer Seed with your ATV! with the Herd GT-77 Seeder SMYTH TAG-ALONG BIN SWEEPER • 18" x 44" Brush • Engine Drive - 4hp Honda • Spring Loaded • Straight Angle • leaf blowers • chainsaws • & accessories Wilderness II W620 4x4 With on-demand 4-wheel drive and an enclosed torque converter, the new Wilderness II Cargo All-Terrain vehicle is meaner, tougher and more loyal than ever before! McGavin Farm Supply Ltd. 527-0Z45 Walton 887-6365 Web Page: http://www.mcgavinequip.com NEW HOLLAND Fax: (519) 887-6381 Email: mcgavin@lincsat.com THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2004. PAGE 17. Girl's 'journal' entry puts a face to AIDS Editor's Note: Helen McShane provided this journal entry' of her daughter, Jessica Bokhout. She and her sister Stephanie are currently in South Africa working with AIDS victims. Jessica and Stephanie Bokhout left for South Africa on Jan. 4. They went well wrapped in good wishes, prayers and the loving concerns of the Huron-Perth community. So many kind folks have been asking us about our daughters. Others are also interested in hearing how their financial donations have been used. In answer to the first question, I am happy to assure you that they are happy and delighted to be at TLC ministries. Every day is a challenge, and often they are also on night duty, soothing cranky babies in the wee hours, or holding a sick child for ' lengthy periods of time. There are great moments of joy and heartache, but they feel surrounded both by the love at the orphanage, and a sense of Divine presence in that place. They are in good spirits and despite a few sunburns and sticky hot days, are enjoying the lovely summer weather. They return home in June, so there will be many adventures still to come in the next few months. The money they took with them translated into 40,000 Rand — a very large sum in South African currency. It has been combined with another donation, brought by an Irish volunteer, and has been used to purchase a second-hand car. One of these days, we hope to see a photo of this "O'Canada" car and will pass the photo on for others to see. The suitcases of toys and clothing was also well received. The girls have had fun dressing up the babies in their Canadian clothes. As you can imagine, clothing 40 children must be an ongoing challenge for those who wash, dry and sort. Imagine the socks. Stephanie appointed herself as the sorter of the suitcases, and spent many hours organizing the clothing so it could be used. Jessica has penned the following "journal entry" for us to share with all those who are interested in what she and Stephanie are seeing in South Africa. The Faces of AIDS From TV commercials for Save the Children, or UNICEF, AIDS is seen in the images of skeletal bodies — people who no longer look human — wasting away in dirty, overcrowded clinics in rural Africa, or children, who look like tiny senior citizens, slowly withering to nothing in institution beds. With images like these, it is easy to forget that these people we see are in fact, real people, real adults and real children, and not surreal images created to scare us into giving money to another charity. In Canada, in Europe, in many of the wealthy countries around the world, AIDS is a disease that we've heard of, seen a little about on TV, but never thought too long or too hard about for any given time. We have more important things to do and worry about I suppose. For us however, Stephanie and me, AIDS has become a part of our everyday life. And these faces you see on TV or in newspapers, these faces that look like skeletal aliens, yes, we hake seen those images for real, we've seen them on roadsides, at ,the farm begging for food at the back gate, in the hospitals, or in the townships. But, these are only a few of the faces of AIDS. AIDS is Tommy. A beautiful albino 10 year old and my number one fan around this place, whose body has become bloated from years of HIV medicine and AIDS cocktails. I am told that once this round of medicines stop working, there is nothing more medically that can be done for him. AIDS is Beniah. For this two-year- old heartthrob, AIDS appears in the form of TB — creating night sweats and coughing fits that cause his lungs to seize up, his eyes to roll back in his head, and phleghmy spit to build up preventing him from breathing properly. These daily spells last anywhere from five to 15 minutes, and afterwards, Beniah will sleep for hours due Co such exhaustion on his tiny body. AIDS is Lusindi, a new baby boy who arrived to us last week — two days after his mum died — because his granny would lose her job as a maid for a white family if she took time off work to grieve and take care of the baby. For Lusindi, AIDS is his awful nappy rash all over his groin and hips -making his ebony skin pink and raw. AIDS is also the infection in his little ears — both inside and out. A peeling, oozing mess that smells awful and which he rubs at constantly. AIDS is Pauline - a six-month-old baby girl whose bout with chicken pox was so severe, craters the size of quarters developed on her forehead and arms — oozing blood everywhere, and so deep that the bone below became exposed. Her reaction to this virus required a two- week stay in the hospital, and only just now, nearly two months later, have these sores properly healed. AIDS is Calli — the newest arrival in the nursery, who was brought here yesterday because her mum is in the hospital dying. This very tiny, very sick, two-month-old baby, has paper-thin skin, wasted limbs (My thumb's width is wider than the width of her wrist and arm), and flesh that hangs in folds around her groin. Her current weight is less than ..-when she was born. AIDS, is in the face of every baby and child at this farm — even those who are healthy. It is because of AIDS that these children have been orphaned or abandoned. AIDS has created a South Africa where more than 25 per cent of the adult population is infected with the disease, and the other 75 per cent of the population are in some way affected by it — whether it be in higher unemployment rates, increased numbers of orphans or child-headed households, or in the growing surge of people crowding hospital waiting rooms and causing an already low funded health care system to be stretched even further. AIDS, not war, not famine, not poor economies, is winning the race in Africa's demise. But, though AIDS is doing much harm, and causing such hurt, daily, I am reminded that it is is not able to take everything. AIDS has not taken Tommy's beautiful gentle laugh, or his sparkle in his eyes, or his 10- year-old ability to woo me with flowers from the garden, or love notes, or hugs and kisses, or songs at supper time (what a guy, hey?). Tonight as I was eating my "chicken like a king" as it is called around here, Tommy and four-year-old Jesse sang me songs from Veggie Tales, Ronan Keating's, When You Say Nothing At All, Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely (or lopa as Jesse thinks is the correct word), and Shania's Still the One. AIDS has not destroyed Tommy's position as the boss of this house — a child who all the children respect, and all the volunteers refer to as the Godfather. AIDS has not taken Beniah's newfound giggle, or his two-year- old mischief, or his ability to make me wish every moment I see him that I could bring this little fella home with me. Yesterday Steph taught the wee man how to do a perfect superman pose, and this, added to the monster faces Jen taught him, and the Hiya I love to hear him say, or the 'Wank you' he mastered this morning, is making him more and more and more delightful every day. AIDS can't touch that. AIDS has not destroyed Pauline's happy disposition, her quickness to laugh and giggle when you kiss her cheeks, or her cuddly little baby body. AIDS hasn't taken Lusindi's gentle spirit or his easy smile, or his way of being such a stinking pain a bedtime. Sick or not - Lusindi knows all the tricks to get out of his cot for that extra cuddle. AIDS can't touch the love that is already smothered all over tiny Calli and her dainty features. Though her body is wasting away, she is alert to everything around her. Days here can be overwhelming, Continued on page 18