Brother Hervé GIVELET is in Chad.
In his latest circular letter, he tells us about his work with victims of AIDS.
I have greatly cut back my activities with AIDS
patients. For the moment, it is Marie who is giving me a lot of trouble. She is
sick and doesn’t do anything all day long. With the nurse, we take care of her
first of all, but at the same time, with the help of people in our group, I try
to give her advice and find out how to help her; she does not speak French. But
everyone says the same thing: “We are tired of Marie; we advise her, but she
does not listen. We helped her start a little business and she uses the money
for drinking. She refuses to take her medicine. We will not give her any more
medicine. Let her go find it at the hospital if she wants it; and if she wants
to die, let her die.” That latest opinion, I heard today.
Everyone admits that I saved Marie from death; even
the doctor shook his head when she was sick and said that there was almost no
hope of saving her and now they tell me: “Leave her alone; if she wants to die,
leave her to the fate that she has chosen.” So why would we have saved her at
any cost two years ago and now let her die of her own choice?
As if Christ, after having sweat blood in the
Garden of Olives, after having taken upon himself all the sins and crimes of
this earth, should still see people refusing to enter into his Kingdom; that’s
almost unthinkable.
During the month of May, seven of our patients
died. They found under the mattress of one woman all the boxes of
antiretroviral medicine we had given her; so we could still use it!
The Lord in his kindness will surely welcome
them. They are truly poor, like Marc who has AIDS and whom I met in prison.
Fortunately, he got out rather quickly but he moved to Pala, abandoning his
village and his field, to be closer to our Center. He has nothing; his children
are in rags. The Center gave him a bit of food; I gave him medicine, milk,
sugar. I bought him a mat, clothed his children, repaired the door, and gave
him some money for his immediate needs, but for how long? He will have to find
some work and support himself. He is too weak for farming. Stay tuned. (Audacieux pour l’Evangile, July 2011)
