Milestones

Around December 1969. A shot of yours truly in some photographer's studio. Likely in Bombay.

The 2nd and 4th of April mark important stages in our life. We both complete 40 years respectively, with Andi coming in 2 days before Sheba.

We will be meeting with some dear friends on the 2nd evening to thank God for being so good to us over the years.

Then on the 3rd we plan to go up to a Catholic Retreat center in Khandala for a weekend as a family - to enjoy each other, the beauty of the western ghats - and to spend time listening to God about the next steps he has for us a family.

Thanks for being along with us for the trip!

BREAKTHROUGH Concert

There is nothing like a rock concert to get people together.

Esp. one with all the bells and whistles.

Early this month month we met some young guys who told us that they were planning a concert where they wanted good music and some solid messages addressing social issues and helping young people be free from the challenges they face.

I was hesitant and skeptical - because of how difficult we have found organising the YAA festivals so far. But also very excited about other people organizing something for young people. After a bit of prayer we told them that we were on board.

These guys really put together an amazing show. 3 bands - straddling the spectrum of growling hard-core head-bangers 24x7 (a band from Lonavala) to Hindi-oriented rock from our old friends Commonunion and finally Sheldon + band - a group of Hindi rock/worship guys.

Vijay, the frontman of Commonunion lets loose

Having organised the YAA festival so far on an absolute shoe-string, it was awe-inspiring to come to a stage flanked by a 3 story high scaffolding holding the sound and lights. During the sound testing I understand that some of the window panes in nearby buildings were shaking.

The crowd was good - a mixture of folks who had been invited and people off the streets who had seen the publicity. One of the church leaders present said that he saw a lot of young guys at the event whom he had not seen in church for a long time.

I was asked to speak on Preventing AIDS and Smoking. On one hand it was a hard sell - to talk to a bunch of concert goers. But on the other hand it was a lot of fun. There is a different atmosphere in a good concert - folks are ready to respond and we were able to put together a pretty hard-hitting set of materials which was much appreciated.

The JSK team was also present to give our literature on HIV and to counsel people. While we did not have huge numbers coming to us to talk (it was after all mainly a rock concert) a number of our staff were able to talk and pray with young people who had different personal needs.


I would say that there were at least 1000 folks who were there over the course of the evening. It was wonderful to see what can be done by young people who put their hopes and dreams into action.

Hats off to the LinkLife team - to Jobin, Blesson, Joy, Benny, Sam, Betty, Richard, Sarang, Biji and all the others who worked behind the scenes!

Steps ahead

Blast from the past - part 2. This is the very first 'office' JSK had. A corner of the Lok Hospital. Photo taken in 2003 by Dr. Bryan Sauer.

This was the place where we met Mrs. Dosti. She had just found out that besides her husband being HIV positive - that she was also HIV positive. Her husband was dying at that point and the shock that she as a 60 plus grandmother also had HIV was just too much for her. She couldn't walk anymore and her grown son had to carry her to see Sheba.

Sheba talked with Mrs. Dosti and prayed with her. She prescribed a simple medication.

The next time Mrs. Dosti came in, she was walking. Sheba was thrilled to see the change and asked her if she had taken all the medicines. Mrs. Dosti said that she had not - the prayer was enough to give her strength.

We see Mrs. Dosti every other week or so. She and her family have taken a contract to clear the garbage in a building near ours. Its been 6 years since this lady has found out she has HIV. This grannie is still going strong!

As JSK is in its 7th year now, we face the exciting opportunity of going back to Lok Hospital at beginning of 2010. This time not to just work out of a small corner of the hospital - but to actually use at least one of the floors for our work.

With great opportunities come great responsibilities. We met with the Trustees of the Bethany Trust recently and shared that we are excited about this planned shift. It offers us the chance to do 4 important things:

1. Improve the on-going work of caring for people with HIV in their homes in the Thane urban area
   
2. Further seeing local churches more empowered to welcome people with HIV into their fellowships - both caring for people in need, but also being blessed by people who have HIV and their families
3. Becoming a centre of excellence in HIV care - one that integrates a community health focus with compassionate and bold acute care for people with HIV - and one which can serve to develop models of excellence and good practice for other areas of our country
4. Sharing our experience with others through trainings and internships. Working out of the current Lok Hospital building would be a major boost towards allowing us to train and share practical HIV care with many others from across the country.

All of this needs immense amounts of prayer. When JSK started up we had a monthly prayer meeting at an unearthly hour - I think it was 5.30 - 7 AM on the first Saturday of the month.

We have decided to revive part of this, with a weekly hour of prayer just for JSK and guidance to move forward. We meet on Saturday mornings from 7-8 AM at the Eichers home. The first two times have been a great blessing for us all!

Next up will be a review of what we have done - and putting together an operational plan for the way ahead. Some of the keys to the whole deal are:

1. To be clear about how we want JSK to minister to and with people with HIV - esp. for acute / in-patient care
2. To see God bring key leaders on board. We will need at least 2 other couples who are able to move the work forward as Sheba and I are at the limits of our capacity with things as they are.
3. To be excited and have a renewed passion to move forward.

No way out?

She called Dr. Marise on the phone on Tuesday.

I am coming over and want an abortion.

We had met them last year. He was sick. She was away. His parents said that she did not love the children and that's why she left him.

We started looking after him. He got a bit better. Our staff went to meet her. She had a different story. Abuse by his parents. Neglect by him. Alcohol in the mix.

After some time she came back. We were so happy. Her parents did not agree with it. They moved to a new place outside Thane. We lost contact with them.

She came and met Sheba. She had already tried using the freely available morning-after pills. It didn't seem to work. He is sick again. She is sick too. They have 2 kids - one of whom has HIV.

'Who will touch this child?' she asked. 'I want it removed'

She also said that since she had already used the 'medicine' to get rid of it - that it would not be normal anyway.

Sheba listened. What to say?

Sheba shared lovingly and carefully about life. How precious each one is. How others have been able to carry their children to term.

We have been on this road before. Everything looks lost. Horribly wrong. No hope. But we have seen some beautiful children born.

She told Sheba that they were dead-set on having the abortion. The government hospital had told her that they would not care for her. She is afraid of telling her parents as they had told her not to come go back to her husband. She said that he had forced himself on her.

Sheba humbly said that we cannot solve all her problems, but that if she decides to keep the child, that JSK will try to help in the way it can. By going with her to the govt. hospital for her Ante-natal care. By being there for the delivery. By supervising the medications which will greatly reduce the chance of the child getting HIV (we yet to see a single HIV positive child born to parents who have been using this medication). By helping out with infant feeding formula after the child is born.

Sheba shared that we have a beautiful child whose parents had also tried to abort her - twice - and not succeeded. Her parents were so ashamed to have another child - with all the relatives mocking them. But that God had helped them - and now they are so blessed with this beautiful little girl.

Sheba also told her that removing the child will not solve all the problems.

She asked Sheba what would happen if she went ahead with the abortion. Would we still look after her.

'Of course' said Sheba. We love you.

They left. Sick and tired. Seemingly hopeless.

That was on Friday. As of yesterday they still haven't gone ahead with the abortion.

As the child of an amazing father - who would have been aborted in 1941 if the MTP act as it is today were around then - I am so grateful that Dad was given life and not death in the womb.

Our prayer is that this little child - in the womb of that hurting HIV positive woman - would also get a chance for life.

An old map

In 2003 we made a map of our work at Jeevan Sahara Kendra.

The green dots were people with HIV who were 'healthy'. The yellow ones were those who were 'sick'. Dark blue dots showed the local TB treatment centres (known as DOTS centres) we had identified.

If we were to do the exercise today, we would be putting up almost 200 coloured pins.

Looking back to our beginnings at JSK we realise again how precious each person - each contact that we make is. It is no accident for people to open up their lives to us - and the privilege we have of walking alongside our HIV positive friends during so so many of their challenging days should not be underestimated.

Of the 19 folks we had identified at that time, we have to sadly say that most of them have already died.

One of the "green dots", a man living south of the Thane railway station passed away in late 2004. He had been very bitter when we first met him, angry with life and his situation. But over time his family started participating in a local church and a great change came over him and the whole family. His body could not hold out - it was before we had anti-retrovirals at our disposal - but he died with the reality of peace in him and his family. We heard last year that one of his daughters got married to a pastor in that church.

Another one of the 'green dots' was a 10 year old boy at that time. He kept falling sick over the next few months, and in May 2003 we started him on Anti-retroviral therapy - our first person we treated with ART. This year he will turn 17! The difference that the medication (and may prayers) have made is amazing.

How will the on-going map of our relationships with people in the communities that make up Thane evolve? Here's to the desire that people with HIV will be able to be open about their status and live lives of dignity and purpose. That those who are sick will be lovingly and carefully treated. That those who do not have the disease will make wise and informed choices to protect themselves and those they love. That we will one day not have to hide names behind coloured dots.

Each person is so very precious. How quickly we forget.

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Photo by Dr. Bryan Sauer

Beards

After many years I have grown a fullish beard again. Early attempts in my teens were largely to cover up the lunar landscape of acne that stretched across much of my face. Later it was laziness. I started shaving regularly after Asha showed up - as she did not like my bristles.


Why a beard, and why now? At least in part to see a slightly different me. An then again there are two bearded gents who were both born on the 12 of February 1809 - Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. Both whom were lightning rods of change. Though the changes they were part of had little to do with their prominent beards.

My beard is unlikely to stay long - I have found the goatee quite to my liking for the last decade or so (and think I have a double in Liverpool's coach Rafael Benitez). Some folks, however, are pretty serious in things beard. The German gent below, with his bicycle beard is a contestant in the annual World Beard Championships.

TB again

Picture of a man with extreme drug resistant TB - by James Nachtwey

It's no coincidence that there is a lot of co-incidence of HIV and TB.

With March 24th being 'World TB Day' we stop for a moment to consider that India continues to have the dubious distinction of having the largest number of people suffering from tuberculosis.

What we always knew about HIV and TB - is that in our country every person with HIV is expected to get TB sooner or later - since TB is being coughed around by people who do not have HIV - and given the compromised immunities of people with HIV.

The WHO has put out a new warning about the alarming amount of TB found in people with HIV (click here for a summary) - and the abysmal number that are being actively followed up for TB - both through detection and through proper treatment.

We know that a slew of Nobel prizes in medicine awaits whoever finally comes up with a gold-standard cure for HIV. But the story of TB is sobering - even with proven and effective drugs that can cure tuberculosis - we are still finding so many who do not take the treatment properly and end up dead - or with multi-drug resistant TB. Would the longed-for HIV drug treatment be all too different?

For a challenging look at people who are suffering with multi-drug resistant TB - take a look at: http://www.xdrtb.org

But if we are being to gloomy - lets put it away. We are so very grateful for TB medications - and for the opportunities we have to treat people with TB - be they immuno-compromised with HIV or not. While Sheba has been in Delhi I unearthed a small story I had written for Asha when she was 2 years old. It was of a little girl in Jharkhand whose mother gets sick and who is treated by Dr. Sheba for TB. Reading it to the kids last night - 6 years later - brought back the whole miracle of cure - where people who are at death's door due to this horrible bacterium - are brought back into the land of the living.

At the end of the day we are dealing with the challenge of disease. Whatever the medications available - the process of restoring and rebuilding health is always a challenge - and a miracle in progress. At the same time we also are aware of those for whom the healing processes have stopped - and for whom their bodies have given up the ghost. As we work with people - we see our own faces in them at times. How many uncertainties - and deep fears (as Yancey points out in one of his many essays on pain) - there are for the person who is made weak and helpless by illness - and being "nailed to my bed by God" which is how John Donne put it memorably.

But, oh the tangible joy of release from illness. Be it the bitter sweet one of death with assurance. Or the more shallow, but usually more exuberant one of being able to walk around again and enter the land of the normal, the daily grace of movement and eating and working and sleep.

With all the damage that TB does among people with HIV - it also proves to nadir for what end up to be amazing stories of recovery in people who have kicked the TB bacillus out of their systems (with a lot of help from loving Father).