HIV

She has it. Out of shame she did not tell me.

Her baby girl, Rupa, died on Thursday 26th, June; 11am.

The nurses made her stay in the hall while her baby was taking its last breath.

The Hospitals in India do not give treatment to HIV patients.

They have to go to a 'special' clinic, to be sterilized, and then 'treated'.

She is in anguish.

I was to late.

The garbage to the right of where I live.

Street children bathing in the rain.

Regular early morning Calcutta.

Everything they own is in front of them.

They were very grateful for the bread.

Please help me.

To Market

I've seen her and her two daughters on the sidewalk for the last 3 months. Everyday I would try to have a small conversation with her in my limited Bengali. She is 18 years old though she looks about 25, because of the cruelty of her life. She has no husband, but the first time I took her to meet the sisters, she put the crimson dash in her hair line to try and appear more 'respectable'. She loves her daughters more than anything.
She cried in front of a crowd of her peers while she tried to get me to take her baby.

She is a brave woman.

YOU are all going to help me help change her life.

Baby Rupa is 2 1/2 months old and has pneumonia in both of her lungs. She is the size of a small rag doll and even though she is in the Hospital with her Mother at her side, she is going to need special care for at least another year.

She is a beautiful baby with eyes that grab you.

YOU are all going to help me change her life.


I am going to write more about them, you will read it.

I am going to show you pictures of myself with this woman and her baby, and you are going to want to help her.

I am going to find work and a home for them, but in the mean time she will need money to help her support herself , her very sick baby, and her 3 year old.

She is not a prostitute. She might have been, I don't care.
She does not do drugs. She might have, I still don't care.

She lives on the street and everything she owns she can carry in one hand.

For money she picks through the refuse of the market and finding the odd garlic, or bit of ginger she cleans it and sells it .

This will all change.

You will all help her.

Won't you?

True Loving

Forgive me for not writing sooner I've been busy with so much!

Anways I have had so much happen this past month, new friends, old friends, misunderstanding, puppy dogs, mango eating, monsoon starting, my birthday, but what I would like to tell you about today is: a miracle!

Remember the woman I posted about who I rushed to Khalighat?
Well she is doing so well now! When she first arrived everyone was sure that she would die within a few hours. She was completely unresponsive, blood coming from her ears, several puncture/gash wounds on her head, a large open wound and infection in her right hand, broken ribs on her right side and a broken foot too.

We think she was shoved from a train.

Anyways, she went from completely unresponsive to; grinding her teeth and moaning for a week; to following us with her eyes but still grinding her teeth, to eating bread in milk and biting the spoon in half to; eating normal food; to sitting up with help; to talking; to sitting up and talking and eating by herself.

And what is more is that she recognized me!
She knew I was the one who had helped her when she was unconscious, she knew it was me who was singing in her ear to make her stop grinding her teeth, and she knew it was me, even when I had been too busy to visit her for 2 weeks, and suddenly appeared again to find her almost completely recovered.

When she recognized me I found the greatest treasure of my life.
I felt so completely rewarded by God, but most importantly I felt TRUE.
You probably have no idea what it is like.
I had been false, I had been doing the right thing for the wrong reasons.
You see, I knew that what I was doing was looked up to by a lot of people, and it gave my devilish pride a real rush. I wanted people to be impressed by my 'goodness', by how long I was staying, but now... It doesn't matter I don't need anymore recognition than that womans smile.
My life is true now.

God is True, God is Love, and He can work through anyone that lets Him. That knowledge humbles even me.

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Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.


O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

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