Coming Home

As the years move on - we are privileged to grow with some of our long-term surving HIV friends - and their families.

Mrs. Reshma is one of them.

Having lost her husband - and having 4 small children - the oldest was 9 and a young infant to boot, Mrs. Reshma was trying to sell vegetables and eking out an existence - between bouts of illness.

She needed to be started on medications for her HIV - but she was alone. We finally were able to send her to Purnatha Bhavan - a rehabilitation home for women and children with HIV which OASIS India runs in Igatpuri.

Mrs. Reshma and her 4 bright children have been at Purnatha Bhavan for 2 years now. She has deeply appreciated the love and care she received there and would like to stay longer - but her term is over - and her oldest son has out-grown the age limit for young boys.

We are gearing up for Mrs. Reshma's return. But to what? Two small rooms that are in her husband's name. A smattering of largely disinterested relatives. A small church which she used to regularly attend in the months before she left. A shocking change of scene after the beauty and care she received at Purnatha Bhavan (or PB as many call it).

Please pray for us as we seek to partner with local churches to look after Mrs. Reshma and her kids. It is not easy - especially for her church which has hardly any regular wage earners attending. But we have to believe that with God all things are possible.

The hard fact is that Mrs. Reshma is unlikely to be able to work much - she has been losing weight recently, even though she has been on anti-retroviral therapy for 3 years now. The challenges of helping her look after her children seem immense - but with God our weaknesses can be turned into His opportunities.

We hope to welcome Mrs. Reshma to her home - soon. In the meantime we need to work out what is possible for some kind of employment, how she can be helped to look after her children, what role the local fellowship will play, how to spruce up the house so that the shock of transitioning from the beauty of Igatpuri to the slum where Mrs. Reshma lives is made a bit less. Above all - to allow the peace of Christ to guard her heart and mind in Him!