A message from Pastor Terry Heck, Bellbrook UMC
Dear Friends,
As you know, the tragedy of HIV/AIDS continues to be very serious in our world -- especially in many countries where the disease carries so much stigma and medicine is not easily accessible.
An e-mail from Linda Bales Todd included an important story about the United Methodist Church and hope. Linda is one of our church members who is the Director of the Louise and Hugh Moore Population Project through the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society -- located in Washington, DC (did you know that about Linda?)
Undoubtedly, you have picked up on my passion and compassion for people who suffer with this horrible disease. I share the letter with you because I care and I believe you care, too. This is a letter of hope.
Be proud of your church and give thanks for people like Linda (and Don Messer, who wrote the story) who strives to bring God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
Terry Heck, Pastor
Here's the story:
"20/20: Visioning An AIDS Free World" ....a story of transformation.
I visited a house in rural India where three little kids had been left orphans after both of their parents died from AIDS. No furniture, no beds, no toys, and no bathroom, but for the first time a barren light bulb in one corner. When I turned on the electricity, their squeals and smiles reduced me to tears.
Siva, 15, malnourished, works with raw hands six days a week for 10 hours a day at a poultry farm cleaning eggs with a formaldehyde substance. The $44 a month he earns goes to buying food and paying off the 5,000 rupee debt his father accumulated while he was sick. His sister, Gomathi, 12, suffers from tuberculosis, but rises at 6 a.m. to cook and clean, and then goes to school (catching a bus at 7 a.m. and returning about 7 p.m.) Together they care for their beautiful 8 year old, HIV positive brother, Murugan. "With the light, we can now see."
This child-headed household struggles to survive in an incredibly difficult world, but they get needed assistance thanks to a Women and Children's Health Center initiated through the UMC Global AIDS Fund. Under the direction of N. M. Samuel, M.D., this Center provides free care to impoverished women and children infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. The clinic operates yearly on faith and hope, relying on gifts to cover a budget of about $25,000.
Siva, Gomathi, and Murugun are but three of the 1,415 patients helped by the Center last year. On any given day, the clinic treats from 75 to 100 women and from 5 to 60 children. This little light bulb is a vivid reminder of how United Methodists prove to be "the light of the world" through the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund. By bringing health and help, we spread Christ's love and light throughout the world.
Dr. Donald Messer, Chair
UMC Global AIDS Fund Committee
John Fristoe (Newsletter Editor)
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