Ascension : News From The Grotto
Submitted by The Islander (Shari Parkhill) 02.10.2008 (Article Archived on 16.10.2008)

This past week I was privileged to hear Dr. Bill Hardy, our locum doctor speak on his personal experiences in his home country of South Africa with the terrible scourge of HIV and AIDS.

This past week I was privileged to hear Dr. Bill Hardy, our locum doctor speak on his personal experiences in his home country of South Africa with the terrible scourge of HIV and AIDS.  Unfortunately there were not a lot of people in attendance, mostly medical personnel.  Here on Ascension we tend to have a feeling that we live apart from the real world, and are and will remain to be, untouched by the horrors that some countries experience on a daily basis.

In the Zulu language, there are many words that so terribly describe what the country is facing.  One, when translated, means the country where there is always meat.  At first hearing, one thinks that this means a world of plenty.  That is until one learns that a cow is always sacrificed at a funeral to feed the mourners.  There are so many funerals that there is always meat.

Dr. Hardy took us through a description of the terrible disease, and then showed us the personal toll of this terrible epidemic.  Most of their hospital’s resources are eaten up by this disease and its terrible side effects.  In an area where between a quarter and a third of the inhabitants are infected, the toll is beyond our comprehension.

But the news is not all bad.  In the midst of the horror, people are coming forward to display their humanity and their care for their fellow countrymen.  Wards have been established to care for those who would otherwise be turned out into the streets.  Caring and loving individuals are making sure that afflicted people will truly be cared for once they leave the hospital. 

Dr. Hardy helps to manage an orphanage begun by a couple of missionaries who began their journey of faith by taking in two children who suffered from AIDS.  They went on to establish a loving environment whose first mission was to provide a loving, caring place for sick children to die.  But, instead of dying, once provided with love, care and proper medication, a wonderful thing happened.  Most of the children didn’t die, they thrived. 

Now, the orphanage has expanded, but there is still a waiting list.  But it shows that in the very midst of what so many people feel is an overwhelming disaster, and a situation that a single person can not make a difference in, the very opposite is true.  Dr. Hardy used one of my favourite stories as an example, that of the starfish.  In the face of the many starfish washed up on the shore, a child is asked as he tosses them gently back into the sea, how he thinks he can make a difference.  As he tosses another starfish back, he answers simply “I made a difference to that one”.

We so often think that as only one person in this world that we can not make a difference, but the story of the individuals of faith who are tackling the scourge that is taking away a generation of parents in Africa proves that this is far from the truth.  Every child that is taken care of, every patient that we care for as they pass from this life, every AIDS patient who is treated with dignity and respect, and helped to live life to its fullest, is a testament of our faith, and of the promise we make to God as part of that faith.

“Love our neighbours as our ourselves”. 

God bless those around the world afflicted with the scourge of HIV/AID.  And bless those who care for and love them.  Let each of us do our part. 

Donations to the Rehoboth Orphanage can be made c/o Dr. Hardy at the Georgetown Hospital.