Another life

This morning Mr. Washim came to see Sheba.

Mr. Washim is one of our friends with HIV whom we are on long-standing. He and his wife have been through so many ups and downs. They have 3 children - and we just found out last month that the little 2 year old is not HIV positive: a major answer to prayer since they had tried to abort her when they found out about the pregnancy in the first place.

Last year Mrs. Washim got her tubes tied.

Yesterday night she was taken to a local doctor because she had severe abdominal pain. She was given a simple pain killer and charged a hefty sum and sent to another hospital for admission.

The doctor told Mr. Washim this morning that she is pregnant - the family planning operation she had last year seems to have failed.

We don't know the details yet - but this would be a text-book case for an abortion. Two HIV positive parents. Unstable job. Past debts. A child who has HIV already and has delayed milestones. Two younger children. And now another one on the way.

Though we do not know whether this really is a pregnancy - we do know something. As crazy as the situation seems - this child deserves a life.

I know what I am talking about because in 1941 when abortion on demand was not available, a woman living in South India, who had had an affair with an army officer went to a mission hospital to give birth to her child. She left the hospital without the baby - having given him for adoption - and went on to live her life.

Today that baby has grown up to be my father. I thank God that Ray Eicher was not aborted in 1941.