Twilight years

We often think about HIV as a disease of the young. And it by and large is. Young adults between 30-35 years old are the main people we work with here in Thane.

But there are also others.

Last week three young men came to the clinic with their mother. Sheba assumed one of them had HIV and had come to talk about it. It wasn't that at all. They had come to show their mother to Sheba.

Last year their father died. Then over the last 6 months their mother was hospitalised. Thrice. The most recent admission included an HIV test. She is positive.

It was - and continues to be - a total shock to these men. To speak nothing of the elderly lady herself.

At a meeting yesterday with leaders from our local churches we talked briefly about how so many are afraid of old age. How much we need to bless and help our elderly experience a glorious sunset - and hope into the next and most glorious stage of their lives.

Spare a prayer for elderly people with HIV. May their twilight be glorious.