“WHERE have you been?!”

I have tried to make it a habit every day to walk through the male and female ward at the care centre. It’s where the head office for Genesis is after all, situated between the two. The care centre is the first project that Genesis started. It is a step down facility for those dying of AIDS. They come to the care centre as referrals from local hospitals, when there is nothing more they can do for them. Recently they have also begun to accept new patients from referrals from a partner organization, Positive Ray. They do home based care visits and education to schools and people in the community. While in the community if they see someone bad off, the nurses that work with them can refer them to the Genesis Care Centre. Some have called the care centre a ‘hospice’ and it is that in a way, but the statistics show that once the patient is receiving proper ARV medication, other meds they may need, proper nutrition, counseling, spiritual guidance, a place to rest, love and compassion, then forty percent of the patients are sent home. Of course they need to keep up with their ARV’s to keep their immune system healthy, etc. but they can go home to their families (if there is any) and continue to get better. Once a person has full blown AIDS, they never go back to being HIV+…but they CAN live with AIDS. I’m not a doctor or a nurse and I know the bare minimum about HIV/AIDS. What I do know is that the patients in the care centre are not a number, or a body filling a bed. They are people….whether they have a hurtful past, a wild past, a hard past….they are people. Each is a person put on this earth for a purpose. Their purpose is not to be part of a statistic of those with HIV/AIDS, or a stat of death from AIDS. Not all of them did something wrong to contract the disease. So I don’t walk through there thinking these are all bad people that made wrong decisions and now this is their punishment. I do the complete opposite…I wonder about their life- what makes them happy? what makes them weep? Do they have children, if so, how many? Do they love their Mom and Dad? What did they dream of doing when they grew up? Do they know they are loved by God and forgiven of their sins by the greatest gift from Jesus? Do they know they have a life purpose – to love Jesus as he loves them?

There is a language barrier with most of the patients. Most either speak no English at all, or very little….only knowing “Hello, how are you? I am fine, thanks.” I have learned a little ‘trick’ as I walk through the wards. I make eye contact with anyone who will make eye contact with me. I say hello. If they simply say hello back, they either don’t know much English or don’t want to talk at the moment. Some don’t say anything back at all. And that’s ok. If I get a “Hello…How are you?” in response to my hello, I know I am good. They will speak English. This is what happened with my new friend, Phumlani.

He speaks wonderful English and understands most of what I say. I walked by his bed on Friday, May 1, and said hello and he said “Hello. How are you?” I replied that I was good, and walked over to his bed to ask how he was doing. He told me he is very sick. Turns out he is the patient that Positive Ray brought in just a couple days before. I’d heard one was coming but I didn’t know who it was. It was Phumlani. He went on to tell me his legs got so weak that he could no longer walk. He had to be carried on the back of his Mother. He looked me right in the eye and said “You know what that’s like? I am a man…a 33-year old man and here I have to be carried by my mother…” W-O-W. He told me about how he has one 16-year old son…and had him when he was way too young. He was scared to tell his mother because he knew he’d be in trouble! He told me about how he was a choir director at a church, but the church had too many politics. He went on about how sad that is when churches get that way. He spoke about God a lot so I knew right away that he’s a believer. I could feel it from him too. He wasn’t just saying that. He said he was glad to have this place (the care centre) to get well. He spoke about his Mom a lot and even asked me “Where is your Mommy?” We talked for a good 20 minutes that day. I told him I would be back to see him.

I didn’t see him again until this past Wednesday (5 days after first meeting him). When I walked in he said “HI AMI! WHERE have you been?!” I laughed and said “You remember my name!” I really didn’t expect him to. He said he has a very good memory. I told him I wasn’t there at Genesis on Monday and Tuesday so this was my first chance to come see him. He told me his Mother had been there to see him on Monday. He also said that he had been very sick the night before but felt a little better. Still trying to gain strength in his legs but the pain in his feet hurt so much. He’d gotten foot massages from the care givers so that was helping with the pain. He had a Zulu bible next to his bed so I picked it up and joked that I couldn’t read it to him. He told me the Zulu language is so strange- it takes a long time just to get to the point and the bible in Zulu is no different! HA! He told me someone had said they’d get him an English bible to read. He mentioned that his favorite fruit are plums. He told me a little, but not much, about living ‘the crazy life’ and how he’d made a lot of mistakes in his life. But that he has God now and that’s all that matters. He would say “as long as I have God…” to a lot of things. We talked a little more and I promised I’d come see him the next day.

He was so encouraging to listen to. He has ‘nothing’ yet he has everything…with God. Wow…if only I lived more like that every day!

When I walked in the next day, he was not in the bed. His name had been taken down and the bed looked as if it was ready for a new patient. My heart started beating fast as I asked the chaplain where my friend was. He point down a few beds and said he’d moved beds. PHEW! I was so worried there for a minute!! I spotted him and once again he said “HI AMI!” We talked about how he was feeling that day and how his night had been. I ‘d bought him some plums the night before and set the bag down on his table and told him it was a little gift for when he was hungry. He didn’t open it to see what it was. He thanked me and said it was a gift from God. Yes, yes it certainly was. I told him I’d see him on Monday and that I’d be praying for him over the weekend.

He seems to be getting a little better since he was first brought in. I pray as I talk with him, and pray for him everyday. Please join me. He really is a special soul.

I know of another 33-year old man who was carried just before and after he died...yet now he is carrying us...Thank you Jesus for carrying the cross...