World AIDS day and why we do what we do.

The tenth student in our program is Efrate. She lost both of her parents last year to HIV/AIDS.  She has no siblings or extended family that would step in for her.  At sixteen she was forced to find work to survive and ended up encountering abuse around every corner.

This story is replayed all too often.  Sometimes we, or a group of people like us, can step in and try to help restore hope to the child impacted by AIDS.  Sometimes the story goes untold.  For Efrate, she is safe now. She is back in school with girls her age.  She is remembering how to smile and laugh as the great staff led by Endris work to help piece her life together again.  She is dreaming of finishing school and having a successful life afterwards.  

AIDS is impacting lives all over.  It has changed the landscape of our family.  It has impacted some of our dear friends.  It has taken lives, weakened immune systems, and is even undetectable in some bloodstreams because of advanced medication.  

Whether you are drawn to our friends in Ethiopia or the many in the US impacted by AIDS, I hope that you pause today and acknowledge the One who is supreme over AIDS, poverty, laziness, and everything else.

May He bless our eyes to see and our ears to hear.